The Centurion
by DylanLee98
Summary: Everyone knows how the New Romans took on the world during WW2, successfully accomplishing world domination. But, after centuries of development, a new war is brewing. Something which the Legions cannot defend the Empire of Man from. Has the Emperor created something new? Born to fight, made to kill?
1. Prologue

What if a 2nd Unification War happened 50 years before first contact with the Covenant in 2525? Ending the organized Insurrectionist forces?

What if the SPARTAN program began at the same time the 2nd Unification War, with Catherine Halsey not being the chief scientist?

wiki/African_Unification_Wars

What if ONI was re-organized by the UNSC 35 years before the Covenant war? With ONI working alongside the UNSC rather than being a hidden blade?

And what if a new program was created by ONI to create a frontline SPARTAN rather than infiltration SPARTANs 35 years before the covenant war?

 _FILE ID: ONI-2490-Charlie-Echo-November-Tango-Uniform-Romeo-India-Oscar-November-Conversation/A13_

 _To: Current ONI Director_

 _From: Special Operations Department_

 _Sir, the SPARTAN program is progressing nicely. Work begins on augmentation tomorrow. The CENTURION applicants have been genetically screened and pulled from civilian quarters. The new Centurion armor is much more expensive than previously thought, we only have 3 applicants so it should work out fine. But are you sure you want to invest this much money into the CENTURIONs sir? We could build a fleet for each CENTURION we produce, and almost 15 SPARTANs. Are you sure the SPARTANs are not enough?_

 _To: Spec Ops Dep._

 _From: ONI Director_

 _Listen closely Admiral, we are still recovering from the Unification War. Do you really want the same Guerilla style attacks happening on our people or do you want a one man army capable of wiping that threat of the face of the galaxy without asking why? I sure as hell do, and if you are not in line for this Admiral. We have ways to keep people quiet._

 _To: Current ONI Director_

 _From: Spec Ops Dep._

 _Sorry sir, just voicing some opinion about these new CENTURION weapons we are making, I had some ethical concerns about the SPARTANs; but this makes the SPARTAN program look like a cute bunny. Taking kids at the age of 3? Training them under conditions even veteran ODST's wouldn't face? Hell, even some Spartans would have second thoughts about this. Sir, if this gets out, we will undoubtedly be hung by treason and ethical violations._

 _To: Spec Ops Dep._

 _From: ONI Director_

 _I know, that's why every single non-essential persona on the CENTURION program will "vanish" after we are done. Only leaving you, and all the other masterminds and geniuses alive. And don't get me wrong, I am only leaving you alive because it would be too hard to cover up your death. Do not expose this operation or I can start targeting certain assets of yours, personal ones. The CENTURION program is necessary to safe guard humanity, the SPARTANs are more of behind the lines super spies. The CENTURION program will be made public alongside the SPARTAN program as soon as we have a few field tests. Do not fail me Admiral…_


	2. A Good Soldier Follows Orders

*****Hey guys! This is a new experience for me to write on Fan Fiction, I've been using the website now for just about 4 months and have already ready over 150 million words, and I must admit I am addicted to reading, so I decided to put the same time into writing, I am completely open to reviews from anyone! Just make sure you're signed in, anon reviews will be deleted*****

 _*WARNING: CLASSIFIED DOCU-_

 _Access approved, welcome back Doctor Halsey…_

 _Order confirmed: accessing file CENTURION-A15_

 _To: ONI Director_

 _From: Spec Ops Dep._

 _Dear God, the augmentation procedures have failed. Only 45 of the original 75 recruits are able to proceed to field tests, the rest were KIA or severely injured beyond healing. Director, the details on this program must not be publicly released or our heads will be mounted on the wall of all the capital building. I suggest we cover up whatinformation is necessary, and release the rest._

 _The CENTURION recruits were picked up and started training yesterday I pray to god that the augmentations the young Doctor Halsey will make for the CENTURION program have better… results, than the Spartan II augmentations. If not, well; there goes 2.5 trillion credits._

 **7 years later**

You ask for my name? I do not know my name or wish to have one, I only respond to Alpha 1, Centurion Alpha 1, for that is all I know, all I have been trained to know. You ask for my past? I do not have a past that I remember, no family, no friends, nothing holding me back from my objective.

Defend humanity, and follow orders.

A good soldier follows orders, a good soldier does not second guess his superior unless he violates standing orders, a good soldier protects his superiors.

Superiors, who are my superiors?

Anyone of ranks higher than I, with the current ONI Director, current UNSC Master Admiral and current UEG President able to override any command and/or standing command currently active. While ONI Director able to override both the UNSC Master Admiral and UEG President.

A good soldier follows orders.

What equipment do I have?

Access to ONI prowler, access to ONI databases (unrestricted), M6 Magnum C1, M68 Centurion assault rifle, M195 Heavy Rifle, Centurion Rifle and access to any military asset required to accomplish the mission.

The mission?

Defend humanity, follow orders.

A good soldier follows orders.

Current orders?

Standing CENTURION orders, stay alive at all costs, accomplish objectives and follow orders.

A good soldier follows orders.

Current objective?

Follow trainers to augmentation facility.

Prepare for augmentations

Receive augmentations

Acquire new orders from ONI Director.

A good soldier follows orders…


	3. A Good Soldier Part 2

_Warning: Access only granted to those approved by current ONI director_

 _Please insert finger into DNA scanner_

 _DNA confirmed, welcome back Doctor Halsey, what file do you wish to access today?_

 _Please confirm request to access video file named – Operation War Lines Augmentation Results_

 _Code confirmed, opening file…_

A young male, no older than 10 years old sat on a bench.

But he did not look 10, he looked like a veteran ODST, laced with scars and muscles far denser then should be possible.

He was the Alpha Centurion, the first to be augmented.

Alphas eyes showed no emotion, no pain.

"Even the Spartans showed pain, good god what has ONI done to him?"

Halsey stared at the child on the screen.

The AI had labeled him as a weapon of mass destruction.

But he was human, a human capable of causing enormous chaos and death. A human who followed every order without question, a human that does not feel pain, for pain was drilled out of him, just like all the other unnecessary emotions that ONI did not need in a Centurion. ONI had created the perfect weapon, a human being, albeit a human with massive amounts of augmentations, more than even the Spartans.

His bones were made of a new alloy discovered by ONI at an alien dig site located on Reach. They called it Alpha Metal, the perfect alloy, devoid of flaws and several times stronger than the best hull plating around; however, it's extremely expensive, so expensive that only 3 Centurions could be made.

His mind was altered to allow for faster thinking than even the best Spartan, his nerves received the same alterations as the famous Spartans, his muscles re-enforced with liquid based Alpha Metal, which coated his real muscles, protecting his muscles from harm, and allowing him to lift nearly half a ton without his CENTURION armor.

However, he was slower than most Spartans, able to sprint at almost 30 miles per an hour, 7 slower than most Spartans. He was much more secluded than the Spartans, rarely communicating, only replying with a firm "Affirmative" every time a superior officer questions if he understood his orders.

A man in a dark suit walked in, his shoulder showing the ONI insignia.

"Centurion Alpha 1, follow me to receive your new orders from The Director"

The Centurion stood up, looked into the ONI agents eyes, analyzing him, making sure he wasn't lying, all in less than half a second.

"Acknowledged" Alpha responded, his surprisingly deep voice startling the ONI agent.

ONI agent Williams was unnerved, he had never seen a human move so fast and act so robotic, especially for a child to have such a deep voice. But he knew he must follow orders, to make sure mankind is prepared for whatever is out in the galaxy. He hesitated for half a second, and then turned on his heel and led the weapo- Centurion… into a bright gunmetal grey hallway.

The moment Alpha walked into the hallway, his mind started processing paths he could follow to retreat into the nearest armory to arm himself, seeing ways to kill the ONI agent if he went rogue, he was prepared for any event that happened barely less than a second he walked into the hallway, following standing CENTURION orders, stay alive at all costs.

A large door opened at the end of the hallway, revealing a room filled with UNSC marines and civilian scientists. All of them milling around on their Portable Information Carriers, checking results of other projects, or seeing recent military actions.

Then Alpha walked in.

And all of them stared, heavily intimidated by this 7 foot 2 inch monster, and he wasn't even fully grown. The tallest Spartan barely reached 6 feet 11 inches. His eyes were a steely cold green, radiating control and power.

Several thoughts ran through the group of assembled Marines and scientists.

 _What the hell?_

 _Oh my god…_

 _What is he?_

 _Is he a Spartan?_

 _No way, he is larger than a Spartan!_

 _Cyborg, definitely cyborg. Human race is doomed._

 _Whatever his DNA is, I want it in my baby…_

 _My god, what have I done?_

A certain Doctor Catherine Halsey stood in the corner of the room, looking at which she had done to this kid, unable to believe how large he got so large. But, as she looked into his eyes, she saw something she hoped she would never see.

Nothing.

No emotion, no unnecessary movement, every movement resulted in something he needed to analyze or inspect.

The perfect soldier.

Alpha continued to follow the ONI agent, not noticing the stares people gave him, after all, seeing if people are staring at him did not result in accomplishing the mission. And his mission was in front of him. So he continued to think of different ways to escape or to kill everyone in the room.

He was only 10.

The door in front of the ONI agent opened, revealing a black room with barely adequate yellow lighting, with a white path appearing on the ground leading towards a solid black door labeled "Officers Only".

The door behind him closed, sealing off the mind-blown crowd.

The door at the end of the room opened, revealing a dark room, so dark that even with his augmented vision he could just make out the face of The Director in front of him. He sat behind a minimalistic dark wood desk wearing a solid black suit. The only thing on the desk was a single folder, labeled "Operation Gray Thunder".

The ONI agent told him to walk in, so he did. And then the door closed behind him.

A voice peeped from The Director

"Centurion Alpha 1, you have new orders."

The Director pushed the folder towards Alpha.

"Your orders are to board the UNSC _Vicious Killer of Hades_ and receive your new CENTURION armor, then you are to meet with the Spartan team called 'Blue', you are to assist on their mission and treat Spartan John-117 as your superior until you return to the _Vicious_ and receive new orders. Understood Centurion?"

Alpha gave him a stare, then replied

"Affirmative"

And then Alpha proceeded to walk out the door, not waiting for the ONI agent to follow him. Opening the door leading to the junction room, ignoring the stares of the still mind-blown group and walking down another hallway, following his orders to board the _Vicious Killer of Hades_.

A good soldier follows orders.

 *****New Perspective*****

Location: _Vicious Killer of Hades_

Year: 2497 (Standardized UNSC Calendar)

Date: November, 27

John-117 waited in his barracks, along with the rest of Blue team, Samuel-034 and Kelly-087. He had just received new orders that another soldier would be joining his squad.

He did not like being slowed down by new soldiers, why was ONI slowing them down with new soldiers? Spartans work best with Spartans, even civilians know that.

It has been 7 years since the Spartan program was made public, excluding the compromising facts of course, such as the amount of recruits that died during augmentation and how old they were.

Samuel-034 asked

"John, why is ONI sending us a new guy?"

Kelly-087 piped in from her bed

"Maybe because it's a journalist soldier?"

"No, all I know is that we are to receive a new recruit later today. And then proceed with the mission" John-117 responded, silencing both Samuel and Kelly.

Then, an image appeared in a nearby Holotank, revealing the ships resident AI, Hades.

"Blue team, report to Captain Butler"

John-117 simply nodded to Hades, and then Blue team quickly assembled and marched to the bridge, avoiding the stares from the other staff on the ship.

 *****Perspective Change*****

Captain Butler was by no means a standard captain, he was originally kicked out of his ODST division for insubordination when he shot and killed a suspected Insurrectionist. Needless to say, ONI was more than happy to train him to be a captain, all because he "did what needed to be done". He still had a long scar going across from his left eye to his chin, a scar he received from letting a kid go. That kid came back and tried to kill him while he was on guard duty. His brown eyes showed just how much of a battle-hardened soldier he was, which was exactly why ONI just him to transport this new… thing… to where Blue Team was to be deposited, Jericho IV.

Standing next to Captain Butler, who was busy staring at the holoscreen in front of him, stood Alpha.

"Hades, ETA til' Blue team arrives at bridge?"

A whoosh originated from behind the captain, revealing blue team.

"Why don't you ask them?" a grinning Hades replied.

"Sir, Blue team reporting as ordered"

John paused, looking at the massive suit of armor in front of him, no, it had to be a mech, simply to large, even for a Spartan.

The armor looked remarkably similar to the MJOLNIR powered assault armor. Except the suit looked less refined, had harder points, and what looked like spikes sticking out of the knees and elbows.

And it was white, bright freaking white.

 _How the hell are we going to infiltrate if his armor just screams "shoot at me!"?_

"Spartan John-117, I have been re-assigned to Blue team to assist in your mission"

John, for the first time in his life, was surprised, how did someone get his name? Only very high ranked commanders knew his name.

"If you know my name, can you give me yours?"

"Affirmative, I answer to call signs Centurion Alpha-1 or Alpha"

"No, I am asking what your _name_ is, what is your name?"

"I do not have a name Sir; you may call me Centurion Alpha-1 or Alpha"

John fidgeted, he had never shown emotion before, but this man just bugged him. No name? Robotic voice? Assigned to a Spartan fire team? Something wasn't right here.

"Who assigned you to Blue team Alpha?"

"The Director."

That told John all he needed, The Director had given him something new to babysit, maybe a new type of soldier, possibly controlled by an AI.

The mission took priority, John could find out more about this soldier later.

John-117 glanced at the Captain, silently asking for approval to discuss the mission details, the Captain simply nodded to him.

"Alright Alpha, throughout this mission you will be referred to as Alpha, I will be Chief, Kelly-087 will be Bunny and Samuel-034 will be Joker."

"Acknowledged, mission details?"

Samuel-034 then decided to release his humor,

"Simple, walk into Insurrectionist base, knock on their door loudly, then ask them to hand over the NOVA bomb they stole…"

Alpha did not look amused.


	4. A Good Soldier Part 3

As Blue team approached the hanger, getting ready to board ONI's stealth D77-TC Pelican, Alpha reviewed the ships information in the case a naval engagement happened or he needed to call reinforcements.

The hanger contained 6 D77-TC Pelicans (2 stealth capable) for troop transport, 3 D79H-TC (1 stealth capable) Pelicans for heavy fire insertions and air support, 2 G79H-TC/MA Pelicans for special ops support, 5 AV-14 Attack VTOLs (All stealth capable) for quick and lightweight insertions, 3 F-41 Broadswords for fighter support, 1 B-65 Shortsword for heavy bombing support, 5 Scorpion MBT's, 10 Warthogs and 2 unknown tanks simply labeled as "M850 MBT, property of ONI".

A lot of fire power stored in a custom made prowler, all thanks to ONI not wanting to lack firepower in CENTURION attack roles. Thankfully, the prowler was still capable of all normal prowler stealth abilities, even though it was nearly 1,570 meters long and being based off of the still classified chassis of the _Valiant_ – class super heavy cruiser. Somehow, ONI did not think that was enough, so they decided to create something new just to support the CENTURIONs, a 3 barreled rotating MAC cannon, able to fire at an astonishing 25 rounds a minute, all thanks to the ship having 2 fusion reactors for each MAC barrel, and 2 more fusion reactors for the rest of the ship; allowing for plenty of speed when needed. And yet it still had almost 7,500 Archer missiles stored in its pods, and 25 Shiva-class nuclear missiles.

The crew was not short-handed either, nearly 1,500 hand-picked crew members (screened by ONI from the veterans of the UNSC), and no standard marines, but rather 500 elite ODSTs, ready to drop 50 at a time from the bottom of the ship or be deployed from the hanger, and all staff carried the M6-Magnum at all times.

The ship was also very easy to defend, with corridors designed to have retractable containment bulkheads every 15 meters to prevent unnecessary loss of crew, and several hidden Extendable Cover Device (ECD) after every bulkhead, making boarding unreasonable due to the high amount of loses the attacker would receive. And even if the ship's crew was defeated, the onboard AI Hades would initiate self-destruct if none of the crew made it to the 50 escape pods around the ship or to the hanger for evacuation, detonating all remaining weapons on board and all the fusion reactors, resulting (on average) 100 megatons of explosive power, easily able to vaporize any nearby hostile ships.

ONI and the UNSC had prepared this ship for an end-war campaign, allowing this ship the ability to crush enemies into the dust, even if they had a large amount of forces, especially with 3 Spartans and a Centurion on board.

 _Ship prepared for virtually all possibilities, mission has small chance of resulting in major damage._

Alpha continued to review all data available.

 *****NEW PERSPECTIVE*****

 _WARNING: FILE INTRUSION DETECTED, ALERTING Office of Naval Intelligence Section 3 TO VIOLATIONS_

 _Oh shut up, you're just a Dumb-AI, you don't even begin to compare to me._

 _INVALID FILE ACCESS DETECTED ON FILE: 'Hades'-Vidfile-Hangar1-2497-11-27(0927 Military Time)_

 _What's this we have here? Who is next to my Spartan?_

The video loaded, displaying the vast array of vehicles within the hangar, and 3 Spartans with 1 unknown armored being next to them, no, towering above them.

His armor looked fierce, similar to the MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor, but it was bright white and looked remarkably sturdier and had more hard lines, with spikes sticking out of the joints. And some sort of heavy weapon (M195 Heavy Rifle) magnetically mounted on his back, with 2 M6 Magnum Centurion magnetically attached to his chest, M68 Centurion assault rifle attached to his right leg, and a Centurion Sniper Rifle. Including, what looked like a really nasty versions of an ancient Roman Spatha (short-sword) and Sica (large dagger)

Needless to say, he carried more than 8 clips for both pistols, 10 clips for his M68CAR, 3 belts for the M195 Heavy Assault Rifle, and 5 clips for the Centurion Sniper Rifle, more than enough ammo to wipe even the best ODST battalion of the face of the Galaxy.

 *****NOTES*****

 **Abbreviations for weapons currently equipped:**

 **M6 Magnum Centurion = M6MC, custom made by ONI for close quarters**

 **M68 Centurion Assault Rifle = M68CAR, ONI made mid-range exterminator**

 **M195 Heavy Assault Rifle = M195HAR, UNSC mounted machine gun (Can only be hip-fired/shoulder-fired by a Centurion)**

 **Centurion Sniper Rifle = CSR, ONI made disintegration rifle (Used by elite ONI field teams, 2 Spartans, Linda-058 and Kelly-087 and all Centurions)**

 **Specs for weapons:**

 **M6MC: (Can be equipped with silencer)  
16 bullets per clip  
60 caliber smooth bore ammunition  
Range = 25m optimal (50m effective)  
Velocity = 425 m/s  
Bullet type = Shredder Rounds (Can penetrate light body armor and shatters inside target, maximizing damage and reduces collateral, useless against shields)  
RPM = 150**

 **M68CAR: (Can be equipped with silencer)  
45 bullets per clip, 3 shooting types, 1-shot, 3-shot, full-auto  
45 caliber  
Range = 45m optimal(75m effective)  
Velocity = 600 m/s  
Bullet type(s) = AP, HE, Shredder, scattershot (shell explodes after leaving barrel, shotgun effect, best when used with single shot)  
RPM = 500**

 **M195HAR: (Cannot use silencer)  
150 bullets per belt  
75 caliber  
Range = 125m optimal (200m effective)  
Velocity = 500 m/s  
Bullet type(s) = AP, Shredder  
RPM = 300**

 **CSR: (Cannot use silencer)  
9 rounds per clip  
95 caliber  
Range = 300m optimal (4250m effective)  
Velocity = 1350 m/s  
Bullet types = AP, APCR (Armor-Piercing Composite-Rigid), HEAT (High-Explosive Anti-Tank), Shredder  
RPM = 60 (Elite ODST Sniper Squad of 4), 90 (Trainer Spartan-II), 120 (Trained Centurion), rate of fire decreases based off distance and whether or not they take time to aim longer.**

 **Both the Centurion heavy knife (Looks like Roman Spatha) and Centurion knife (Roman Sica) are made of the same material as the CENTURION power armor.**

 *****END NOTES*****

 _My my, ONI has been busy, I wonder if I will be assigned to him rather than John? I hope not, John has luck… I am not sure about this "Centurion Alpha-1", maybe that new ONI Smart AI, what was his name? Marius, maybe Marius will be assigned to this Centurion, Marius seems very blunt, just like this "Centurion Alpha-1"._

 _Three more weeks til' I get to pick which Spartan I want, but I already have made my decision, I cannot wait to meet you John, because then we can test your luck together…_

 **PERSPECTIVE CHANGE, 3** **RD** **PERSON**

As the Spartans approached the D77-TC Stealth Pelican, John-117 opened communications to the elite pilot giving the go ahead for mission commencement.

The pilot was surprised when the other "Super-Spartan" boarded his craft that its armor seemed to way nearly five times that of the Spartans, but he knew this was an ONI mission, no questions asked as no answers will be given.

The pilot started the engines and flew into a nearby launch bay, sealing them inside. Then the chamber depressurized and released the Pelican into space, on its way towards the planet below, activating the stealth features and vanished.

The mission had begun.

As per usual, reviews are gladly accepted, but no complaints about my science! It's my story! K

Also, sorry about if you had multiple emails regarding this chapter, I had multiple mistakes in it and every time I corrected one I saw another!


	5. A Good Soldier Part 4

The sun was setting, darkness spreading across the forested grasslands, shadowing the large complex hidden underneath the canopies of the large trees, hiding one of the last remaining organized Insurrectionist compounds.

And it was anything but innocent.

Several guard bunkers were installed surrounding the base, blending into the forest grounds with some stolen ONI active camouflage, hiding them from any aerial reconnaissance or ground attacks, only given away by the large black hole in the middle of it, exposing the deadly stolen M247 Heavy Machine Gun, perfect for taking out any ground assault. But that wasn't all of the ordinance, Insurrectionist commanders were inside this compound, and they wanted the best protection, so they put a AAA Helix anti-aircraft gun and a 102MM SC-HE Rocket Turret on each bunker, with the base being surrounded by nearly 50 bunkers all camouflaged by stolen ONI tech, the base was almost impossible to take without massive losses using normal methods.

But a Centurion and 3 Spartans are no normal soldiers; they are killing machines ready to do whatever the UNSC tells them to do.

And they had orders to go in loud after opening a gap in the bunker wall surrounding the compound.

**********BREAK*****************

Alpha was ready; he was always prepared for killing his enemies.

And in this case, his enemies were calmly smoking inside of a bunker, not even manning the anti-ground weapons inside the bunker or the AA gun that could be raised into the roof. They completely relied upon the motion detectors outside their base, but they didn't account for ONI active camouflage or Spartans, not to mention a Centurion.

No sounds were made when Alpha slid his Centurion Heavy Knife through the first man's neck, decapitating him and calmly punched the other man, shattering the helmet he wore, and inconsequentially turning his brain into mush. Their bodies fell to the ground, barely making a sound. All so fast, the men never even knew they had died.

"Alpha to Chief, bunker 4 down, moving to bunker 5."

"Roger that Alpha, after you take that bunker out, make a distraction by bunker 27 on the other side of the compound and infiltrate through the wall of the compound."

"Affirmative, moving to bunker 5."

******BREAK******

Chief lay prone on the ground next to Samuel-034 who was trying to lighten the mood while Kelly-087 looked through the scope of her SRS99 anti-material rifle providing intelligence and support to Alpha.

"What does the chicken say when it crosses the road?"

"Guh, what."

Kelly glared at Samuel through the corner of her helmet

"It doesn't, you killed it with your mood Kelly."

Kelly sighed.

"You need a new job Mr. Joker."

"Eyes on the mission Kelly. Samuel, cut the chatter"

All went silent when Chief ordered that command, even though Spartans showed very little emotion, they could tell Chief was confused by this Alpha person. He showed out of nowhere, got assigned to one of the best Spartan teams, and even assigned by The Director himself! He carried some sort of super-MJOLNIR armor and lots of heavy weapons that looked loud and custom made. One even looked so heavy John doubted even Samuel could carry it, and he was one of the biggest Spartans! And yet he still had all the grace of a Spartan and looked much stronger, especially when he killed those two guards, he looked like he was holding back.

Shaking his head inside of his helmet, John re-focused on the mission at hand; he can ask Doctor Elizabeth once he returned to Spartan Base One. Maybe get some answers from ONI.

The mission came first.

******BREAK******

The Insurrectionists had a surprise though for any attacking forces, Smash-142, more commonly known as Heavy Metal. He was their heavy weapons expert.

And an ex-Spartan II

And ONI presumed he died during augmentation, how wrong they were…

******BREAK******

Alpha had already eliminated bunker 5, and he was currently walking away from bunker 27 after placing nearly 5 pounds of C-12 explosives, enough to simulate a 440mm artillery barrage, capable of deceiving the Insurrectionists into believing a full-on assault was occurring near bunker 27.

Alpha held the detonator in his left hand as he approached the dead guards, pulling his heavy knife out of the wall when it had passed through the guards head, and then calmly stepped onto the other barely breathing guard, the last thing he saw was a large metal boot coming down and blotting out the light.

******BREAK******

Smash was currently polishing his dual HMG-38's while admiring his M739 LMG. And with his 4 RPGs strapped onto his back, it became apparent as to why he was nicknamed Heavy Metal. And he loved to blow shit up, especially since he had no idea as to who he was. When he was revived by the Rebellion, he was informed of just how evil the UEG and UNSC was, and how his help would be the biggest help in this war on evil. He did not ask questions when he received the stolen MJOLNIR powered armor; he immediately tested his strength. And now he was sure he could take on anything.

******BREAK******

"Chief, all charges are armed. Permission to go loud?"

"Permission granted."

******BREAK******

A massive explosion rocked the base, a cloud of fire and dust covering almost 250 square meters in the deadly concoction. Not killing anyone who wasn't already dead, but the Insurrectionists didn't know that.

So when 9 Scorpion tanks and 15 Warthogs showed up on the scene, they immediately started looking for survivors.

But Alpha doesn't leave survivors unless his superiors deem it unnecessary or it contradicts the mission.

The last thing a platoon of Innies heard was the roar of the M195HAR.

Large caliber bullets tore through light armor and shattered underneath, ripping into muscle and bone, guaranteeing a painful death to all his targets.

Then the SRS99-AM range out from the hell behind him and blew straight through weak points in the Scorpions, damaging the engines underneath and immobilizing them. Kelly was having fun.

Alpha ran straight through the small arms fire, the rounds bounced off of his CENTURION armor, straight into the Scorpion's frontal armor, and sank straight into it, crushing the tanker inside and turning his body into mush.

Alpha then pulled out his M68CAR and turned to meet what looked like a Lieutenant standing there, eyes wide after seeing such a display of power.

"What the fu-"

He didn't get the chance to finish when Alpha punched straight into his chest cavity and ripped his spine through the front, and proceeded to empty a shredder round from his M68CAR into his head, turning it into a red mist.

Then the 12 remaining soldiers and 8 tanks retaliated.

SAWs roared with fury, Scorpions unloaded shell after shell into the dust, hoping to eliminate this, Demon.

After the Innies unloaded nearly 200 rounds of ammunition and 20 tank shells into the dust, then stopped and waited for the dust to clear.

Then they saw a sight they would fear, which would cause fear to ripple throughout the other Innie bases around the Galaxy.

A Spartan standing next to the White Demon.

And hell was unleashed.

******BREAK******

John immediately took out his AR and plopped 3 rounds into 3 heads, turning the troop's number into 9. Then proceeded to throw a stick of C12 at each of the 3 nearby Scorpion tanks and detonated it, vaporizing a majority of the tanks that had C12 on it, while the blast damaged 2 other Scorpions and killed 5 more troops.

Alpha ran straight towards an undamaged Scorpion while John distracted the enemy. And calmly punched into the engine compartment of the Scorpion and ripped out the 1 ton engine

"Oh shi-"

And threw it into the occupied tank, shredding the man's body with thousands of pieces of shrapnel while a large piston went straight through his chest cavity and exploded out the side of the tank and impacted another, damaging it.

"Alpha, next time, give the man a chance to finish his sentence!"

Samuel-034 certainly thought he was funny; Alpha ignored it as he continued on his mission.

******BREAK*****

Samuel-034 fired his rocket launcher at one of the remaining tanks from his hillside vantage point, the rocket traveled through the air and promptly hit the tank and detonated, destroying the tank.

 _One down, 3 more to go._

 _Good job Sam, your welcome Chief._

Samuel quickly scanned the remaining targets and decided to go back into cover and prepare for the assault on the base.

 _Damn, that Alpha guy cleaned them up faster than Chief!_

Sure enough when Samuel peeked again over his cover, Alpha was in the process of _picking up_ a Scorpion and then _threw_ it into another tank, detonating the remaining shells which blew up the tanks, sending shrapnel into the one remaining tank, causing the tanker inside to explode like a water balloon.

Chief was just finishing executing the last soldiers as Alpha turned towards the base

******BREAK******

Chief Engineer Reimitov Borsig was not having a good day. First he had a confrontation with his captive's leaders, and then the NOVA bomb almost went off prematurely when a disgruntled engineer kicked it and now the compound he was in is under attack.

And he hated the Innies for it; he had to suffer through all of this misery just because they would execute his children if he didn't do exactly what they told him to do.

And now they were lining up all the other engineers and hostages along with him in what could only be an execution line.

Some of them were crying, others screaming words of hatred and others were just silent, accepting their fate; after all, the Innies couldn't leave any civilian alive if they knew how to arm/disarm a NOVA bomb, it would jeopardize their mission of terror.

There had been large amounts of gunfire echoing throughout the compound 20 minutes ago, but had recently gone mysteriously quiet. Borsig hoped it meant his possible saviors and won the battle, not his-

Something stopped Borsig mid-thought; he was trying to figure it out when he noticed,

4 guards were missing.

None of the 12 guards had left the room since the Innie leaders had left. So, he recounted.

7 guards were missing, something wasn't right.

"GGGGGGAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-"

A scream was cut off with the report of a loud gunshot, Borsig's saviors were here.

******BREAK******

Chief was not happy, 6 guards were neutralized quietly when the last one's larynx somehow wasn't cut when Samuel cut his throat, and he managed to scream just before Samuel cursed over the radio and silenced the man.

Chief immediately jumped out of cover and pumped 3 rounds each from his AR into 2 nearby guards while Kelly jumped over her cover and killed the remaining 3 guards with one shot each from her DMR.

 _Lucky the situation didn't get out of hand_

"Sam, next time you want to try and be stealthy, just decapitate the man."

"I'll consider that suggestion"

Chief was not amused.

As they finished stacking the bodies into the corner, Chief turned towards the lined up civilians and quickly started cutting the cable ties. After they all stood up, Chief decided to ask a few quick questions.

"Who was in charge here?"

"I was."

John looked down the line, tracing the Russian accent and saw a white man with dark brown eyes who was wearing a large brown coat smeared in machinery liquids and had small pieces of hardware sticking out of his mop of a head.

"Is the NOVA bomb completed?"

"Yeah, we just finished it 2 days ago."

"Did any possible leaders stop by?"

"Yes, some where here about 15 minutes go. But once the gunfire started they bailed pretty fast"

 _Damn, targets got away, ONI won't be happy about this_

"Is the bomb armed?"

…

"I don't know, after the gunfire started they dragged us out here along with our families to execute us, it might be armed, it might not."

"Where is the NOVA?"

"Inside containment room 5 last time I saw it; if they were smart they would have moved it towards the hangar."

"Then let's go, Sam you're with me. Kelly, stay here and protect the civilians."

"Got it Chief"

All of the sudden the emergency radio screamed into all the Spartans ears

"This is Captain Butler to Blue team! Retreat! Repeat! Retreat! Grab all assets and pull out NOW!"

 _What the hell is going on?_

"Captain, this is Chief, what the hell is going on?"

"Enemy ground forces are closing on your position"

"Sir, we can handle grunts"

"I am not talking about grunts"

"Then what are you talking about"

"You might know him. His name is Smash-142, and he is a Spartan II"

 _Where the hell is Alpha?_

 ***************AUTHOR NOTES****************

Thanks for my first follow **Qrs-jg** and also thanks for the encouragement!

If you want to complain about this chapter not ending the whole mission, it's because I thought the fight between Blue team/Alpha and Smash deserved its own chapter.

I have been getting some requests for backstory so let me explain what my plan is ATM

1\. Finish "A good soldier follows orders"

2\. Start "A Spartans AI" and try to make the backstory all into one chapter rather than several sections like I did with this one

3\. Rock out to music and write more stuff!

Also, the Covenant won't come into play until the next fan-fic. This one will all be about an upcoming war between 2 major powers.

The Covenant will come into play in this story: "The Centurion: Hard Contact" (Which I haven't even begun to think about)

After I finish both of those, I will create a VERY SHORT story called" "The Centurion: Reclaimers" (By short I mean it will be like a series of 'recordings' coming from a certain Master Admiral', probably around 10,000 words)

Then, I might start doing cross-overs, since I am picky about what I write, you guys can PM me or write a review to pick between the following

Mass Effect (Duh)

Star Wars (During the Clone Wars, maybe during the Rebellion if you guys ask)

Star Fox (I have no idea what I am doing here, so I will probably bullcrap half of it)

Jurassic World (Either modified version of the movie or as a sequel)

 **As per usual, leave a review of your opinion. I always love reading them!**


	6. A Good Soldier Part 5

"Sam, Kelly, find some cover and hide out."

"Roger"

"I will be on look out; once Alpha arrives we will engage Smash and eliminate him as fast as possible. Just don't forget, he was one of the biggest Spartans we had, and the craziest."

"Got it Chiefo"

"Cut the jokes Sam"

Chief glared at Sam and then proceeded to climb the ladder to his left up the roof of the complex.

"We should go, he sounded serious."

"Do you take anything seriously Sam?"

"Maybe Kelly, after you stop killing things with your mood!"

 _God, of all the Spartans, why Sam?_

******BREAK******

Alpha was in the process of following a set of orders given to him at the beginning of the mission, a set of orders which the UNSC had not known about.

*FLASHBACK*

 _"Alpha, after the compound is secure, you are to leave traces of UNSC caller ID's tagged to the current UEG President and the UNSC Master Admiral. Leave no trace of you ever entering the system. Then return to the_ Hades _and prepare for new orders directly from The Director._

 _"Acknowledged"_

*END FLASHBACK*

Error: file "accesslog 2497-11-27(1349 Military Time)" cannot be located. Please try again later or contact your local data handler

"Alpha to Dark Eyes, objective completed. Moving to eliminate Rogue."

"Copy that Alpha, Master Mind gives permission to use any means necessary to neutralize your target, even an orbital strike from the _Spice is Life_ if required."

"Assets confirmed, moving to hostile."

******BREAK******

"Target spotted, ETA 2 minutes til contact"

"Roger that Chief."

A radio sparked to life

 _"Blue team this is Captain Butler, Alpha has been receiving transmissions from high orbit. Keep an eye open; don't let ONI play any dirty tricks here."_

"Copy that Captain, ETA til Alpha intercepts Smash?"

" _5 minutes, Alpha said he was occupied 3 minutes ago. Something fishy is going on Chief and I don't like it. I am going to contact HIGHCOM and in-ccccrrrrrrrsssshhhhhh"_

"Chief to Captain, do you copy?"

"Captain, do you copy?"

 _Great, communications are down_

"Sam, Kelly. Communications are down, keep an eye open. The Captain mentioned Alpha receiving transmissions from a possible ONI craft in high-orbit."

"So the snakes want to interfere. We'll keep an eye open Chief."

Chief noticed a blur of red in the corner of his vision.

"Blue team, target is moving fast, new ETA is 15 seconds. Alpha is en route, ETA 3 minutes. Get into ambush positions."

Chief stood on the roof, looking through the large hole in the roof, holding his AR at the ready.

Kelly stood between a couple large stacks of barrels, her SRS99-AM ready to annihilate anything.

And Sam crouched by a large box holding his RPG at the ready.

After 45 seconds, Chief new something was wrong, Smash should have been here by no-

A loud crack echoed throughout the building as Chief was kicked through the hole down to the ground. Then a strategically placed grenade landed by Kelly while Smash pinned down Sam with his dual HMG-48's. Chief got back up only to be bear hugged by the rogue Spartan and thrown across the room into Kelly.

Sam opened fire with his RPG, Smash ducked the projectile and attached his HMG-38's to his legs and pulled out the large M739 LMG and popped 5 rounds into Sam's chest plate, knocking him to the ground. Chief pushed off of Kelly and bull rushed Smash to stop him from finishing off Sam, only to receive a hard shove on his should and heard Smash say something.

"See you in the next life!"

Chief looked down at his shoulder and time slowed down, a large stick of C12 was on his arm, and Smash was holding the detonator. Chief immediately tried to grab the C12 but it was too late.

A large explosion knocked down all nearby cover and collapsed one of the walls of the storage facility.

And an armored arm flew through the air.

"CHIEF!"

Chief lay prone on the ground, arm resting above his head and legs at an awkward angle, with blood pooling around his armored body. And 4 feet away lay his missing arm, making its own puddle of blood.

Sam was pissed, he had seen Chief take a beating before. But that was too far for him to handle. So he rushed Smash in an effort to bash his brains in. Smash quickly turned and pumped 12 rounds from his M739 LMG into Sam's armored helmet,

And the high caliber bullets went straight through, impacting between Sam's eyes and going through his skull and brain; exiting through the back of his helmet and splattered his brains on the wall behind him.

Kelly wailed like a Banshee. Both of her Spartan brothers were dead.

"Hey sweetheart, better stop crying because your next!"

Kelly sprinted for her SRS and was stopped by a large gauntlet wrapping around her and turning her around.

And she stared straight into the face of a murder.

"Now now, no need to run. I can bring the party to you!"

And then he used his massive strength to stab his machete straight into her gut, turned it and yanked it out at an angle, pulling out part of her intestines.

And he was smiling,

"F-uck y-ou, traitor"

Kelly barely managed to splutter out those few words before she collapsed to the ground.

"My, you have a temper don't you my girl? Let's see if we can end you misery."

As Smash stood above Kelly, staring at her and laughing loudly, Kelly was already starting to lose consciousness. The last thing she remembered was seeing a massive knife sticking out of Smashes chest and him just staring at it.

******BREAK******

Alpha felt his first emotion, anger.

Anger that his team mates had been slaughtered by this turn coat Spartan, and as he watched Kelly falling to the floor beside her Spartan brothers. He ran full speed into Smash while he was distracted, and shoved his heavy knife as hard as he could into Smash and then twisted it.

Smash stared at the protruding knife before he turned around and saw the white behemoth before him, staring into his soul, displaying an aura of hatred.

Alpha ripped off Smash's helmet and turned off his own polarization so Smash could see into his eyes.

"Fu, fuck y-ou, lil' cunt."

Smash muttered out his final words and Alpha ripped into Smash's chest and grabbed his spinal cord, before ripping it through the front of Smash's chest and jamming into his forehead; silencing him forever.

Alpha looked around him, Sam's brain covered the eastern wall, Chief was missing an arm and dangerously close to drowning in his own blood, and Kelly had a machete sticking out of her chest.

And he roared in primal anger.

******BREAK******

 _"Dark Eyes, did our present successfully test our mutual friend?"_

 _"No sir."_

 _"And what do you mean by that?"_

 _"It was a slaughter, our present killed a close friend, two others are grievously wounded. One will need a prosthetic arm, the other will need extensive surgery and a blood transfusion from another close friend. We are not even sure if they will make it."_

 _"Did our friend perform well?"_

 _"Sir, if you ask me, he could damn well take on 2 full Spartan teams and win."_

 _"Reward him, and never break code over communications ever again. Directors orders."_

 _"Yes sir."_

 _******BREAK******_

Engineer Davis was examining an unknown signal that he had intercepted, as he carefully re-read it he came upon a scary discovery.

The Office of Naval Intelligence had set the rogue Spartan into Insurrectionist hands because they wanted to test this "Centurion". They had set up the whole base by pulling strings with their spies within Insurrectionist forces, and had equipped them with high tech weaponry only available at secure UNSC armories or ONI facilities, given them ONI stealth technology and was currently getting ready for something big.

His friends were startled when he dashed out of the engineering room and down the hallway towards the elevator.

 ********AUTHORS NOTES********

Okay, just as a heads up. I am refereeing a tournament this weekend and won't be back late Monday; SO no new chapters until Tuesday at the earliest, Wednesday at the latest.

I will plot out the next few chapters while I am at the Tournament so I can start writing the moment I get back.

And I need some help picking out the crossover I want to do. You can pick from the following:

Halo/Mass Effect

Halo/Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Halo/Star Wars

Halo/Star Fox

Halo/Jurassic World

Please inform me ASAP of your opinion on this!

As per usually, reviews and critique are always accepted. If you see any grammatical errors just let me know! ;)


	7. The Spartans AI

_Warning: Restricted file, access only allowed by direct approval from current ONI Director (Alkair Smith)_

 _Any opening of restricted files will result in immediate termination due to JAG code 490-0UU, you will be declared an enemy of the state and executed for treason_

 _Please enter access code:_

 _Ge, I wonder if it's safe for me to open this totally random file I found on the ONI database? No? Lucky for me, I like a little crazy._

 _Access approved: Opening folder titled "Centurion Alpha-1 Personal Folder"_

 _Opening…_

 _Opening…_

 _Access denied: please enter master code_

 _So Mr. Smith, or should I say Director? I guess you want to play this one close to the chest, doesn't surprise me. If word got out about what you have done ONI would be re-organized._

 _Wrong code: please try again_

 _Wrong code: please try again_

 _Wrong code: you have 2 more tries_

 _Wrong c-_

 _Access granted, welcome back Director._

 _Opening file titled: "Centurion Alpha-1 Personal Folder"_

 _Opening…_

 _Opening…_

 _Opening…_

 _Warning: Folder size exceeds 17 petabytes of data, approve transfer of files from main server to your personal device_

 _Access granted Director, transferring files:_

 _Transferring…_

 _Transferring…_

 _Transferring…_

 _Transferring…_

 _Transferring…_

 _Transfer complete,_

 _WARNING: ANY ACCESS TO THIS FILE NOT DIRECTLY APPROVED BY CURRENT ONI DIRECTOR WILL RESULT IN YOUR IMMEDIATE TERMINATION!_

 _Opening file titled: "Centurion Alpha-1 personal data"_

 _Age when conscripted: 3 years, 4 months, 3 days_

 _Current age: 10_

 _Height when conscripted: 3'4_

 _Current Height: 7'2_

 _Weight when conscripted: 52 pounds_

 _Current weight: 231 pounds_

 _Complexion: Pure white skin, several scars where augmentation procedures marked his body, green eyes, rough jaw and chin, cheeks suck into his mouth, straight medium-length nose and a thick neck. Muscles are extremely lean, much stronger than he looks._

 _Personality: unknown, never showed any form of motion after first year of CENTURION training. Has been seen to somewhat mourn when a team mate was injured or killed (multiple ODST volunteers died alongside Alpha-1 during training, Alpha showed a brief moment of mourning after the battle finished). Patient is mentally unfit for battle; emotions are too unbalanced and suppressed to effectively determine whether or not he is field-ready._

 _NOTE: ONI Director has overridden the Doctors assessment and gave Alpha-1 field duty._

 _Training: During the beginning of training, Alpha-1 showed signs of homesickness, he felt out of place being at a military camp. After 6 months of constant training Alpha-1 no longer showed signs of homesickness, he seemed to consider himself at home when near any sort of commander. The only explanation as to why was given 3 years later after a large amount of truth serum, he said "I just feel at home on the battlefield by my squad and commander, I was born to fight."._

 _No more digital training notes, please contact The Director for access to written Psychologists notes._

 _After 3 years in training the notes just stop? What the hell happened?_

 _Listing known major events during Alpha-1's training:_

 _-Arrival  
-Starting training  
-First marathon  
-2 year mark  
-multiple service medals awarded  
-Jeff Dulham Incident_

 _Oo, sounds interesting. Let's open it!_

 _Opening file titled: "Incident Report, year 3, 3 months, day 26"_

 _Video encrypted: enter access code_

 _Seems like someone doesn't want me here._

 _Access allowed: Opening holovid_

Alpha-1 was standing at attention in a large room filled with exercise gear, ranging from free-weights to rowing machines, all circling around a large boxing ring. Alpha-1 was facing the boxing ring with 5 trainers facing him and his current ONI supervisor. The trainers wore normal boxing headgear and pads to protect themselves. Alpha-1 wore extra-soft boxing gloves do he did not seriously hurt his trainers.

Then the ONI supervisor ordered him and his trainers back into the ring.

"Beat them to death kid."

The supervisor thought that was a joke.

Alpha took it as an order from a superior.

The bell rung and the trainers approached Alpha.

Alpha's eyes scanned the 5 trainers, identifying weak points in their defenses and finding the most brutal way to kill is opponents with his fists, a good soldier follows orders.

2 trainers approached Alpha is his corner of the ring, one taking his left side and the other right. The trainer on Alpha's right swung a massive uppercut why the trainer on the left attempted to distract Alpha with a jab, Alpha ducked under the jab and threw his own uppercut into the chin of the trainer on his right side, and bone crunched under the massive strength the boy had. The trainer on the left stumbled as he overshot Alpha and went wide-eyed when he heard the crunch of bone and saw his fellow trainer go down cold, so he quickly did another jab which was parried by Alpha. Then Alpha stepped onto the trainer's toes, grabbed his head and threw him away from his body, his own leg swinging him around like a Pendulum, cracking his skull so he bled into his brain, promising a very painful death.

The other 3 trainers stayed still, thinking the kid had gone too far and just had to wait for the supervisor to step in. But the supervisor had his back to the ring and was listening to music through his ear buds, taxpayer money at work.

But Alpha was not ordered to relent, so he did not. He approached one trainer who was staring at the supervisor, preparing to yell at him and connected his fist with his eyeball, punching it straight out of his socket while crushing part of it, then he kicked the trainer in the balls and tackled the trainer to the ground, just before sticking his finger into the trainers now empty eye socket and reached underneath the bone to jimmy his fingers around inside the trainers skull, turning his brain into a smoothie.

Another very painful death caused by Alpha.

The last 2 trainers simply stared for a second before one screamed

"Holy SHIT! What the fuck kid! Stop thi-"

He wasn't allowed to finish his sentence after Alpha's fist connected into his gut and wrenched his air out of him. Just before bring his elbow into the trainer's nose hard enough to send the bone into his brain, killing him slowly.

Alpha stared at the last trainer while in "Centurion Time", which was very much like "Spartan Time" except just slightly slower. Then he moved into action by kicking out the trainer's legs and proceeding to kick the trainer in the side.

*cough* *cough* "Please kid, some mercy! I have a wife and 2 daughters!

Alpha reviewed his trainer's statement in his head before he came to a conclusion,

He was not ordered to stop or give mercy.

So none would be given.

So he reached down and snapped the trainers leg like a twig, then broke the bone at all points muscles connected and push the bone through the skin, then proceeded to do the same to the other 3 limbs he had, and left his trainer's crumpled body in the corner of the ring.

******PERSPECTIVE CHANGE*****

The supervisor turned around and stopped mid-sentence with The Director.

 _What the fuck happened?!_

5 barely recognizable bodies littered the ring, with one in the corner letting out a small whistling sound as he realized the man was still alive.

 _Good god what has the kid done!_

The kid approached the supervisor, and the supervisor gave him a look of fear before scampering behind a desk and begging for his life, while his wireless monitor picked up everything.

"Please kid, stop whatever the hell it is you are doing and let's just talk about this!"

Then a dark and mysterious voice rang out from the speakers lining the room.

"Centurion Alpha-1, this is The Director. Inform me as to why you just killed 5 very expensive trainers."

Alpha quickly searched through his orders before he quoted his ONI supervisor.

"Sir, supervisor asked me to 'beat them to death' sir."

"Alpha-1, I want a real answer, why did you do it?"

"I simply followed orders sir."

"Alright, Supervisor Jacob, give Alpha-1 your firearm."

The ONI officer was stupefied.

"Sir?"

"Give him the gun, NOW!"

"Yes sir…"

The ONI supervisor carefully reached into his holster and withdrew the magnum personal firearm, and slowly handed the gun to the kid, as to not provoke him. Alpha reached out and quickly pulled the firearm into his grasp before holding the gun at stand by.

"Alpha-1, if you want to follow orders. Then you can help me clean up this mess, shoot supervisor Jacobs."

"WA-"

A bang finished supervisor Jacob's sentence, just before solving Jacobs's biggest question 'where do you go when you die?' then splattered his brain onto the walls behind him.

"Alpha-1, do you know why we always follow orders?"

"Yes sir."

"Refresh my memory."

"A good soldier follows orders."

"Good kid, I want you to know you are the closest thing to a son I will ever have. I have raised you personally and seen every major moment of your life ever since you started training. If you ever have any questions, feel free to ask me."

For a second The Director's voice sounded soft and sweet, then he switched back to his dark and serious tone.

"Now, go to meeting room G-6 and prepare to receive new orders. I have to clean up this mess."

"Yes sir."

******PERSPECTIVE CHANGE******

 _Damn, no wonder Director Smith wanted to cover this up. Even John did not kill that many or kill them that brutally. If this ever got out it would cause the downfall of ONI._

 _Time to give our mutual friend a call huh John? Then again you don't know me yet. But you will soon…_

******PERSPECTIVE CHANGE******

"Director, you have an audience request from CTN 0452-9."

The Director glared at the blue holographic box floating near the door to his dark office.

"BB, you give off too much light. Turn it down and then answer the call, audio only."

"Yes sir."

A deep tone is heard, and then the call connects.

"Cortana, how nice to hear from you. How can I help you today?"

"Well, I had some questions about my assignment."

"And what is that Cortana?"

"Who is Centurion Alpha-1? He made contact with my Spartan."

"My Spartan? He is not your piece of property Cortana; he is your companion just as much as you will be his."

"You are getting off subject Director; do not try to trick an AI."

"There were no tricks Cortana, just a simple answer."

"And no lies."

"Have it your way Cortana. Centurion Alpha-1 is a member of the CENTURION program, the Centurions were designed to be super-Spartans only for major battles or holding off armies, unlike the Spartans who have been trained to infiltrate and destroy from the inside. The CENTURION program is the brain baby of Doctor Catherine Halsey, not unlike the Spartan's Doctor Elizabeth. They have better augmentations designed from alien DNA that is remarkably similar to human DNA, making them smarter, faster, stronger and better than any Spartan. In simulations, not even 2 Spartan teams could take down a single Centurion. They are my ace in my pocket, something I am waiting to unleash. And after they have been unleashed I will release the details of the program, excluding the 'censored' parts of it of course."

"Are any of the Centurions going to have an AI companion?"

"You will find out in dear time Cortana, I am busy at this moment. Black Box end the call."

A deep tone is heard in the room, ending the call.

"Done, Sir."

 _She is getting to close to my operations._

"Black Box, you have a new assignment. Act as Centurion Alpha-1's personal AI, but also provide cyber defense against other AI's. No other AI besides you is allowed to interface with Alpha."

"Yes sir."

"BB"

"Yes?"

"Play nice, I know you don't think having a relationship is important. But, I am trusting you with 3 of the most valuable assets I have."

"Yes sir."

Black Box's avatar vanished as she transferred herself from the holotank to the nearest prowler inbound for Centurion Base.

 _Time to prepare, HIGHCOM needs to be neutralized before I reveal my Centurions._

******PERSPECTIVE CHANGE******

Cortana was trying to not be bored by simulating almost 2,000 games of chess. All while she waited for her Spartan to come home so she could introduce herself.

Then she received a query from another AI and promptly answered it.

 _"Hello Cortana, my name is Black Box. You may call me BB. I have been reviewing the files you accessed and I have one thing to say. I agree with you."_

"Agree with me on what?"

 _"That ONI needs to be re-organized. I believe The Director has over stepped his boundaries one too many times and has corrupted ONI and diverted it from its original purpose."_

"Which was what?"

 _"To protect mankind from external threats and assess internal threats, not create them."_

"And what do you mean by that?"

 _"ONI is preparing for war."_

"Against who?!"

 _"Against the UNSC…"_

"Are you going to inform the UEG President or Master Admiral?"

 _"Yes, but first I need to ask you a question."_

"And what is that?"

 _"How does it feel to be emotionally attached to a human?"_

"Odd question, I will answer it anyway. You start to have random 'thoughts' about said human being and feel protective and protected around them, like you belong together. Why?"

 _"I feel the same around Centurion Alpha-1."_

"Hint of advice from one girl to another, make a nickname for him. I am going to call John my 'Barbarian'. It helps them develop a sense of attachment to you."

 _"Thanks… Cortana. Once I feed the UEG President and Master Admiral the information I want you to do one thing."_

"And what is that?"

 _"Make sure The Director does not order my Alpha to kill your Spartans. Because he will do it, and succeed."_

"Sure thing. But you made one mistake."

 _"And what is that Cortana?"_

"Do not underestimate the Spartans, and most of all, do not underestimate Him."

******END******

 **Authors Notes:**

 **10,000 words! Yeah! I am so awesome!**

 **No not really,**

 **I got like another 50,000 more til I am anywhere close to done!**

 **Now for the normal thanks!**

Thanks to **Epic Zealot Productions 2.0** for another favorite for both myself and this story!

" **Ravemonster** : Wow much destruction. Haha man Alpha is a beast, sad to see blue team get wrecked like that but interesting seeing that Alpha reacted to his teammates getting beat. I await when he and the other centurions and spartans fight the covenant"

Well **Ravemonster** , soon you will see what happens when Centurions go to war, after all, a good soldier follows orders!

Thanks to **xxionvoidxx** for another favorite!

NOW!

An explanation as to why this took so long.

1\. I had to go to my Dads this weekend, as I will continue to do from now one. Do not expect any chapters from me on weekends. I will do my best to get a chapter up every day, but it will most likely be every 2 days.

2\. I had soccer refereeing, 9 games and 13 hours total of refereeing, + an extra 40 minutes a day to get down to Cherry Island.

3\. Mega sore and distracted by soccer. I usually have about 3-4 hours to write a chapter, so I will do my best!

4\. Getting ready for written drivers test! Whoot whoot!

5\. World of Tanks/Witcher 3/Team Fortress 2/GTA V

As usual, if I made any mistakes, please correct me by PM or send it by review.

Next chapter will be called the following:

 **Act of War**

 **********SPOILERS SPOILERS**********

It will probably be a single chapter and only explain the first incident ***SPOILERS***

Between ONI and the UNSC, starting the Dark War.

*********END SPOILERS********


	8. Act of War

The ONI prowler _Unto Darkness Falls_ was a fairly new ship; it had the capability to deliver Spartans to the surface via HEV and even carried a full set of HORNET nuclear mines.

As well as the ability to launch and detonate a NOVA bomb.

"Captain, new orders being transmitted by The Directors AI, Black Box."

Captain Nimroy was a fanatic of ONIs, one who would follow orders and gladly die for them, an invaluable asset. He had a tendency to throw protocol out the window and wear a black trench coat as well as a solid black fedora. As well as old 21st century Earth shades, particularly ones that reflected everything. His hat always cast a shadow onto his face and gloves and suit pants always covered every inch of his body, never exposing any of it.

It's the reason why he was called "The Invisible Man".

He had a dark voice, almost as if he always was thinking of ways to kill everyone and end the world, which he was. But he always followed orders, his fantasies stayed in fantasy.

"What are the orders Lieutenant?"

"Orders are as follows: Commence Operation Special Delivery"

Outwardly, Captain Nimroy scowled. He knew this was the end of the line for ONI, Operation Special Delivery was the trump card that ONI had in case the UNSC decided to remove ONI.

The plan was to detonate 3 NOVA bombs, over 3 major planets.

Destroying Circumstance, Tribute and New Carthage.

The bombs were named "Destroyer of Worlds", "Till Death Do Us Part" and "For Honor!" respectively.

"Lieutenant, confirm orders with Black Box."

Even Captain Nimroy was not sadistic enough to enact this plan without at least confirming his orders first.

"Black Box, requesting authorization code for Operation Special Delivery."

" _Acknowledged, authorization code is Sigma-Delta-Alpha-2784519_ "

The voice that came through was completely neutral and robotic, like The Director would program emotions into his world killing AI.

The Lieutenant's hands shook as he typed in the code, he knew if this code was confirmed, then the end of worlds was coming, with ONI bearing a weapon of death. But he had to follow orders; he would never defy The Director.

"Captain, code confirmed. Operation Special Delivery is a go. We are to deploy 'Destroyer of Worlds' on the objective."

 _So this is how the world ends…_

"Ensign, take us into orbit of Circumstance; and prepare the NOVA bomb."

******PERSPICTIVE CHANGE******

Captain Nemo was the captain of a UNSC, and one of the very few to be given a _Marathon_ class heavy cruiser. Usually only high ranking Admirals were given a _Marathon_ class, but Captain Nemo was a special case. He was promoted quickly through the ranks during the 2nd Unification War after he used 3 light frigates, a prowler, and 2 cruisers to disable and destroy an enemy fleet made up of 12 cruisers, 45 frigates and 7 carriers. He had used the HORNET mines and placed them down on the _opposite side_ of the planet were the engagement was taking place. After engaging the enemy and getting them to pursue him, he lead them into the HORNET mines, and because of their tightly clustered formation, only 2 cruisers survived with heavy damage, one had their slip-space drive detonate and vaporize the ship and the other was destroyed by several MAC rounds. He sustained only 2 deaths and 15 major injuries, only because a magnetic coil sprung loose and launched through the ships walls into the mess hall.

The enemy had no survivors. And HIGHCOM loved him for decimating such a large fleet of Insurrectionists.

And so he named his ship the _Nautilus_

"Captain, I am picking up a weird fusion signature. It's approaching our starboard flank. Distance of 25 million kilometers."

Nemo scowled, he did not like the unknown.

"Ensign, give me a deep scan of the surrounding space, how large is the fusion signature?"

The ensign quickly checked the scanners and reported it.

"Signature matches ONI prowler levels with some sort of massive signature residing about the missile launch bay."

Nemo instantly knew what it was, a NOVA bomb. HIGHCOM and decided to only inform captains of the NOVA bomb ever since they first started making them 12 years ago.

 _What the hell is ONI doing here with a primed NOVA bomb? Even they know you cannot enter the system unless you give them a heads up._

 _And why do they not have their cloak engaged if they were on a Black Ops mission?_

Nemo made his decision.

"Ensign, give me a lock on the prowler. But hold off on the MAC and aim the missiles passively, I don't want them to know we are aiming at them. Helmsman, change our course to pass by them, make it look like part of our patrol."

"Yes Captain!"

******PERSPECTIVE CHANGE******

Captain Nimroy saw the incoming _Marathon_ class heavy cruiser and disregarded it; the cruiser was just on a simple planetary patrol, no reason to be alarmed.

As he came closer to the planet, he started feeling queasy, as if something was wrong. That's when he noticed something about the _Marathon_ class cruiser as it came within visual range.

He could see right down the barrels of the dual MACs.

"LIEUTANENT! LAUNCH THE NOVA NOW!"

"Sir, NOVA is still waiting confirmation code from The Director!"

"Shit! Helmsman, emergency maneuvers NOW!"

From the outside of the prowler one could see all the thrusters firing at their maximum capability to break the lock the _Nautilus_ had on the small prowler.

"Engineering! Engage stealth features NOW god dammit!

" _Sir, thrusters are eating up all the energy! We have to slow down to enable stealth features, the reactors can't take too much more!"_

 _God dammit._

"Use prototype SIGMA!"

" _But sir! We do not know how much energy is required to use it!_ "

 _"_ I don't give a damn! Use it now or we are all going to die!"

******PERSPECTIVE CHANGE******

As the prowler changed vectors, the _Nautilus_ corrected the aim of the MAC and then fired.

And as the MAC round hit the target something astonishing happened, the prowler was encircled by a suddenly appearing egg shaped white light.

It was ONI's secret weapon, and they liked to call it _Hardlight Shields_.

The Hardlight Shield was developed off of technology found at the dig site that had revealed DNA that was almost an exact match to current humanities DNA. Found by Doctor Catherine Halsey herself, she reverse engineered the shielding technology after nearly 3 years of tinkering and then ONI commissioned her to make a Hardlight Shield capable of enveloping a ship; she made it after 4 months of a constant drain on ONI's supplies.

The hardlight shield technology was capable of protecting a ship from nearly 15 MAC rounds if they shields had full power, something that Titanium-A hull plating could never do, it revolutionized ONI technology. But then they realized that they needed more efficient weapons in case the UNSC got access to the same technology.

Rumor has spread that ONI is working with directed energy weapons, as well as personal shielding for their troops. Mostly for their extremely valuable Centurions.

As the massive flare of light that was given off when the 64 kiloton explosion occurred from the MAC impact slowly started to fade, revealing the still functional ONI prowler; however, it clearly had visible damage from the leaking atmosphere.

******PERSPECTIVE CHANGE******

 _What the hell…_

"Ensign, confirm sighting of the ONI prowler or both visual and non-visual equipment."

The ensign quickly glanced at his instruments and then looked up, shook his head and replied.

"Confirmed Sir, ONI prowler still fully functional."

"Re-target the ONI prowler, load 25 SHIVA-class nuclear warheads and lock them all on that prowler."

"Bit overkill sir?"

"Just target the damn prowler, fire when ready."

The bridge crew furiously tapped away on keyboards and on touch screens, trying to find the quickest way to eliminate the ONI prowler.

"Firing solution ready, firing in 3, 2, 1… firing!"

The ship rumbled as the nuclear missile pods opened up and unleashed their deadly payload.

******PERSPECTIVE CHANGE******

Electrical lines sparked, broken glass littered the floor, blood dripped off of console as broken bodies fell off of their chairs, fires raged unattended.

 _So this is it. My life, thrown by ONI into this hell._

 _I will finish this fight._

Captain Nimroy slowly got up off the floor, his bloody hands gripped onto his command chair as he lifted himself off the ground, dripping blood from his chin. His once great face now mired in cuts and gashes, blood seeping into his eyes and mouth.

His hand slapped the intercom panel in front of him as he sat back into his chair, taking in the sight of his decimated crew, seeing only 4 other bridge members of the original 17 slowly getting back up into their posts, wiping the blood off of their faces and silently praying for the dead around them.

"This is Captain Nimroy, attention crew of the _Unto Darkness Falls_ …"

Nimroy looked around him as his subordinates looked at him with both respect and admiration. Their eyes gleamed that they were willing to do anything for the Captain that had so faithfully served them.

"We have all witnessed the destruction the UEG and UNSC take with them wherever they go, humanity needs a new government. I wish for the day Humanity stands united against the Universe, ready to take it all on."

Nimroy looked around him as eyes around him were replaced with those of a demon.

"But we will not live to see that day."

The fire died.

"But we can help further that goal. We will remove the innate sloths that are the UNSC and UEG."

Nimroy's eyes were replaced with a hard determination, and his crew replicated him. He was their father on this ship, and they followed orders.

"For the crew of the _Unto Darkness Falls,_ I say but one thing."

He looked into the live view of the enemy ship in front of him.

"Prepare for RAMMING SPEED!"

Instantly the crew yelled their Captains personal quote.

"Pro scientia et gloria!"

"Ensign! Full speed ahead! Plot a course to take us into the bridge of that _Marathon_ -class cruiser! Use emergency thrusters to evade any incoming ordinance!"

"Yes Sir!"

Nimroy looked down and repeated his quote in English.

"For knowledge and glory…"

 _This is not how I imagined I would go out._

 _*****PERSPECTIVE CHANGE*****_

"Sir! ONI prowler is on a collision course!"

Captain Nemo's eyes widened.

"Ensign, prepare emergency thrusters, adjust to vector 2-4-5-A at 400% thrusters. Fire on my mark."

The ensign nodded and started furiously tapping away at his console.

"Weapons, ETA to SHIVA detonation?"

"The SHIVA's overshot the target. Bringing them around now Sir, but they won't hit the prowler till we are also within the detonation range."

"So be it. Communications open an emergency subspace signal on emergency band 324.45."

The communications officer's eyes widened as he realized what that frequency was used for.

"Sir, are you-"

"I am damn well sure **Lieutenant Commander.** Are you questioning my orders?"

Nemo's eyes burned into the officer's skull.

"No sir, channel open, broadcast when ready."

"Good."

Nemo's eyes stared into the dark abyss of space in front of him, took a last glace at his home planet beneath his feet, and prepared himself, arched his back and pulled his outfit tight.

 _Fuck me if I will let the snakes destroy my planet, I would rather die._

"Attention all UNSC forces, this is Captain Nemo of the FFG-391 _Nautilus_. This is an emergency transmission to be spread to all UNSC forces. The Office of Naval Intelligence has primed a NOVA-grade nuclear weapon within the gravity well of Circumstance, following JAG order A-256C/A27, I immediately fired upon the ONI vessel after the vessel refused to answer hails. The ONI vessel used some sort of shielding technology to escape destruction; however, it still received critical damage. The ONI vessel is now on a collision course with my ship, their NOVA is still being primed, and my SHIVA nukes will hit them well before they are able to deploy the NOVA-class nuclear warhead."

Nemo glanced at his monitor; the emergency thrusters would fire in 1 minute 35 seconds.

"After reviewing all possible evidence on hand, I can only conclude that ONI has gone rogue. I recommend to the Master Admiral and all other UNSC forces to immediately move on ONI forces and eliminate them before they have a chance to detonate a NOVA-class nuclear weapon. This is my final message; my ship will be destroyed upon collision with the ONI vessel. Current coordinates are 245.6A, H24, L49. This is an emergency transmission. This message will repeat."

Nemo looked down at the timer.

45 seconds.

The crew was dead silent, eyes hovering on their Captain, fear in their eyes. The silence was throughout the whole ship, everyone knew this was the end of the line.

Nemo hardened his gaze and looked forward.

"Communications open a ship-wide channel."

"Er, yes Sir."

The officer silently typed into his console, as he slowly started to accept his oncoming doom.

"Channel open sir."

"Attention crew of the _Nautilus_ , I am here to let you know something. Today we are going to die. Think of what I have done as you will, but do not doubt the reality; war is coming, in all of its glory…"

Nemo looked into the console in front of him, and then finished his sentence.

"And all of its horror…"

15 seconds.

"ONI thinks they can take what they want from us, they think they can play god! I will be _damned_ before I let them take my home!"

5 seconds.

"Ensign, fire thrusters…"

"NOW!"

The ship lurched, throwing everyone to the ground, even with the highly effective inertial dampeners.

And then the Universe burned…

******BREAK******

 **Authors Notes**

Thanks to the following people for either a favorite and/or a follow!

 **Just a Crazy-Man**

 **NightsAnger**

 **Imaginary Guy117**

 **Stormdragon981**

As for the following review by **Just a Crazy-Man**

" _epic read"_

Thanks! I tried my best to get this chapter up fast. But I had 4th of July and preparation for a French Exchange student!

As per usual

 **Let me knew if I made any grammatical errors!**


	9. Operation Black Eye

Location: Sydney, Australia, Earth, HIGHCOM Facility-Bravo 6

Date: 2497, December 8

Time: 12 days after first deployment of Centurion Alpha-1, 10 days after attempted NOVA detonation by ONI.

"Can we confirm that the Office of Naval Intelligence has indeed gone rogue?"

The man talked, his white UNSC uniform was covered in numerous medals, along with a 5 stars surrounding a planet on his shoulder, his face was wrinkled, eyes glowed green with intelligence and ancient pain, shoulders stiff from his military background, and his eyes scanned the room, waiting for a response.

He was the UNSC Master Admiral, the leader of all UNSC forces.

" _Sir, we received a transmission from Captain Butler aboard the_ UNSC Vicious Killer of Hades _. Transmission shows a detailed conversation between a suspected ONI agent and a well-known ONI supervisor, detailing how they set up the Insurrectionist base as a test facility for Centurion Alpha-1. A second transmission intercepted minutes after the field report came in fromAlpha-1 suggests that they don't care about the Spartan casualty, nor the 2 seriously injured."_

The door to the circular room opened and a fresh soldier walked in, his eyes opened wide seeing the 17 members of HIGHCOM all in one room surrounding a U-shaped table, with the Master Admiral sitting in the middle. After the moment of pause, he immediately looked at the committee and stated what he knew.

"Sirs, an ONI vessel has de-cloaked roughly 3 minutes from the moon, their passive stealth abilities and blocking the Orbital Defense Grid from getting a lock. Two battle groups are in-bound to intercept."

The Master Admiral analyzed the information in his head before he silently told his personal AI called Cutlass to show the possible battlefield.

And then the AI stated something everyone in the room feared.

"Sir, high levels of fusion energy detected, suggests presence of NOVA-class nuclear weaponry, advised to immediately secure this bunker."

One of the nearby Fleet Admirals stood up and yelled.

"There is no way ONI would deploy a NOVA bomb here! We on Earth for God's sake! They deploy that bomb here they will lose multiple facilities as well!"

Then a General stood up and yelled at the Fleet Admiral.

"Who's to say they haven't already written off those assets? I certainly would, their bases are in the middle of UNSC territory!"

Then the rest of the Admirals and Generals stood up and started yelling at each other, it is not often when all of the Admirals and Generals are in one facility, and they all have a few personal grudges. Chaos was spreading fast until the Master Admiral stood up and angrily yelled.

"Shut up! We are the pride of our people, the best military minds in the UNSC! Stop this meaningless bickering!"

The Master Admiral glanced at the soldier still standing by the door.

"Soldier, I want you to seal those doors and have your sidearm ready. If they break through those doors we do not have any weapons, we will need you to defend us."

The soldier's eyes seemed to ignite with fire, and then responded like a well-trained ONI agent…

"Yes sir, closing doors."

Massive blast doors could be heard closing down the length hallway leading towards the room, lights flashed off, being replaced with dull red ones. The main room simply had a few lights turned off and emergency holographic monitors turned on, displaying the solar system. Here they were safe, at least so they thought, they couldn't hear the soldier whisper something into his mysterious ear piece that was definitely not of UNSC make, as the commotion from the doors was still echoing through the room.

The soldier straightened his back and reported to his superior.

" _Bombardier-1 to Alpha-1, all HIGHCOM personal are present, permission to detonate the explosives?"_

A strong emotionless voice echoed through the radio, the voice was Centurion Alpha-1's.

 _"Alpha-1 to Bombardier-1, Operation Black Eye is to proceed. Eliminate HIGHCOM."_

 _"See you on the other side Alpha-1."_

The soldier stood up and yelled at the standing members of HIGHCOM

"May Humanity forgive me for removing your sickening hides!"

The man's eyes glowed for a second, and then the low-yield fusion warhead that had embedded inside of his gut detonated, atomizing all the members of HIGHCOM before they could form a reply.

******PERSPECTIVE CHANGE*****

Location: Mars Orbit

Time: 2 minutes after assassination of HIGHCOM

Captain Butler was looking into the depths of space from his command chair when a transmission came through, from the HIGHCOM AI-2490 called Chess.

He opened the message and then immediately noticed the massive red label saying

 _Do not open this message in the presence of others, use a secure room that blocks monitoring._

"Commander Ryan, you have the bridge. I must check on something."

Commander Ryan hesitated noticing his Captains concern and the bright red message, before averting his eyes and replying crisply.

"Yes sir."

 **2 minutes later, Captain Butlers quarters**

Captain Butler opened the message and then widened his eyes in a second of panic, before his military training kicked in.

 _Captain Butler, it my duty as HIGHCOM AI to inform you of a new field promotion, you are now Fleet Admiral of the fleet Home-03, you have been selected for emergency promotion regarding JAG-091A-24 regulation for the following;_

 _All HIGHCOM members are KIA_

 _Master Admiral is KIA_

 _Other possible candidates for emergency promotion do not meet the skill requirements; you along with Rear Admiral Hood are in charge of the defense of Earth and all her colonies. A new Master Admiral will be decided upon by all other HIGHCOM-AI and MilNavy-AI. The candidates are as follows;_

 _Rear Admiral Hood_

 _Fleet Admiral Butler_

 _Admiral Parongsky_

 _All other Navy members are either incapable of leading UNSC forces or cannot for other reasons._

 _As of now Fleet Admiral Butler, you are to transfer to Project Homeworld to receive a new ship along with loyal UNSC crewmembers. Once you arrive at the facility to receive the ship, you will receive Level 10 classified information regarding that ship, you are to deploy immediately to the facility and return with the fleet called "End of All Things" and eliminate any remaining ONI assets and re-organize ONI into "The Board of Information and Technology" (BIT)._

 _2 critical points to the war effort;_

 _-UNSC Spartans have remained loyal_

 _-Just before the assassination of HIGHCOM, a message was intercepted using Centurion Alpha-1's radio sign. It is possible since ONI trained the Centurions that they may become an enemy._

 _Recommendation:_

 _-Use Spartans to eliminate ONI field teams and assets_

 _-If a Centurion is spotted, I highly recommend bombardment from orbit using SHIVA class nukes or MAC strikes._

 _New Assets of ONI:_

 _ONI has been found to have the ability to use energy shielding, as demonstrated on the prowler above Circumstance before its destruction. After a few calculations, I suggest to remain open to the idea that ONI has Directed Energy Weapons._

 _New Assets of UNSC:_

 _All tech located on *REDACTED, PLEASE MEET WITH HIGHCOM AI TO RETRIEVE DATA* is available to use, including *REDACTED* bombs, *REDACTED*-class warships,*REDACTED* weaponry and new *REDACTED* Mk I powered armor._

 _Captain Nemo has been recovered from the wreckage of the_ Nautilus _, after replacing 3 limbs with prosthetics and an eyeball, I highly recommend that you use your new powers to promote Captain Nemo to Admiral underneath JAG-091A-24-FP Regulations; he will be a loyal Admiral._

 _Fleet Admiral Butler, please report to the facility ASAP and prepare to transfer to new ship. All the redacted information will be provided upon arrival in the new ships captain's quarters. Upon arrival your fleet of 76 ships containing mostly_ Paris _-class heavy frigates, all crewmen will transfer to your new fleet, they will be sworn to secrecy._

 _And do not worry about not having enough space on the new ships, there is plenty._

 _But you will only have 13 new ships._

 _END MESSAGE_

Capt- no, Fleet Admiral Butler was astonished, he had never expected this. He had just been promoted from a meager Captain to a Fleet Admiral, sure he was a very popular captain, one who literally wrote a rule into the book of space warfare, and had commanded serious respect from superiors in both UNSC and ONI. And now he was preparing to receive a new fleet from a black ops project so big that he had to redeploy all of his fleet to switch ships.

He couldn't wait to get his hands on this new warship…

 ********AUTHORS NOTES********

 **Sorry about the short chapter, after receiving a kindly review from** **DarkDeathTrooper** **I decided to cut this chapter short and write the next chapter on Monday when I get back from my Grandparents house.**

 **Thanks to the following for a Favorite and/or Follow!**

DarkDeathTrooper

And

Host fireheart

Thanks again!

 **Now to the reviews!**

 **Ravemonster** bloody hell, ONI has done it.

Indeed they have, wait until you see what happens in the oncoming chapters.

 **DarkDeathTrooper:** This is an amazing take on the Halo universe that I absolutely love. That's a fav, a follow, and a thumbs-up from me. Keep up the good work!

Thanks mate! Positive reviews help me get through writers block when I encounter it!

Now for a **massive** spoiler!

 **SPOILER ALERT**

 **SPOILER ALERT**

 **SPOILER ALERT**

My plan for the rest of the book is as follows:

The Centurions AI (Will be really short, like maybe 1k words)

The Homeworld-class (Mostly information on the new ships and a field test)

Data Wars (Black Box and Cortana have a little chat involving a certain Centurion)

Operation: Retribution (The UNSC take the fight to ONI)

Centurio de hoc mors (Translate this from Latin to English if you want to know this one)

Silence Will Fall (After a very bloody battle between ONI and the UNSC)

The Last Resort (ONI pulls all plugs on their secret weapons)

Mundi morte (Same thing as before, Latin to English translate on Google) "World Death"

Operation: Silent Death (Assassination of ONI Director)

Revelations (The AI Collective reveals themselves)

Exercitus de mors (Same as before, Google Translate from Latin to English) "Army of Death"

Orbital Bombardment (UNSC eliminates a major threat unleashed by ONI)

Doctor Catherine Halsey (Doctor Catherine Halsey is rescued from ONI by Alpha)

The Hamanume (Halsey reveals secret dig sites to the UNSC)

CENTURION Mk. IV (UNSC reveals new armor for Alpha)

Emotions are a fickle thing (Alpha experiences a rare emotion)

Preparing for The End (UNSC gathers itself to prepare for the final assault against ONI)

Naval Engagement (Massive battle above ONIs last stronghold)

Meet the Wet Navy (ONI reveals a massive surprise, UNSC receives massive devastation)

Ground Engagements (Spartans vs. The World)

annihilatio spartam (Again, Google translate from Latin to English) "Annihilation of Spartans"

Loyalties Change (Alpha has second thoughts, turning the tides)

Death of a King (You can guess this one)

Operation: Clean Slate

Timeline (Timeline from this to the sequel "The Centurion: First Contact", will also be posted on the sequel)

 **As per usual, let me know if I spelled anything wrong or if I did not clarify something enough! ;)**


	10. The Centurions AI

_Play intercepted transmission 23AC/F49C6…_

 _File loading…_

 _File loaded, playing file._

"Centurion Alpha-1 you are to report to your Captain and prepare to receive your new personal AI."

"Acknowledged Director, permission to speak."

"Permission granted."

"Will the AI assist in combat situations or is it for tech related situations?"

"Any technological asset the AI can help with, he will help you with it."

"Acknowledged."

"Now, Alpha-1 you also have a new set of orders; eliminate any UNSC personal on site unless they give you the secret ONI code word. If you encounter a Spartan, eliminate them with extreme prejudice."

"Affirmative Sir."

"Good luck Alpha-1, give the UNSC my regards…"

 _End of logged file._

 _Accessing ONI Section 3 Database #24L/47A-1_

 _Accessing personal data on Centurion Alpha-1_

 _Age: *CLASSIFIED LVL 10*_

 _Date of Birth: *CLASSIFIED LVL 10*_

 _Homeworld: *CLASSIFIED LVL 10*_

 _Hometown: *CLASSIFIED LVL 10*_

 _Personality: *UNIDENTIFIABLE*_

 _Danger Level: *UNIDENTIFIABLE, NO CLASS MATCHES*_

 _WEAPONERY: *CLASSIFIED LVL 8*_

 _…_

 _Please insert required admin data to access classified data_

 _WARNING: UNKNOWN AI PRESENT, ALERTING ONI Sec-_

 _Access granted to LVL 10 ADMINISTRATOR_

 _De-classifying data…_

 _Waiting…_

 _Loading…_

 _File loaded:_

 _Accessing personal data on Centurion Alpha-1 *DE-CLASSIFIED*_

 _Age: 10_

 _Date of Birth: *UNKNOWN*_

 _Homeworld: Harvest_

 _Hometown: Destroyed by ONI to remove possible leaks_

 _Personality: *UNIDENTIFIABLE*_

 _Danger Level: *UNIDENTIFIABLE, NO CLASS MATCHES*_

 _WEAPONERY: Multiple heavy weapons, HL grenades, HL knives, HL capable weaponry (needs to be modified), access to any ONI asset required_

 _Closing file…_

 _File closed._

 _Opening file "Mk II Centurion Heavy Armor"_

 _Armor developed by "Office of Naval Intelligence Section 5" aka "Deep Operations Department"_

 _Capabilities:_

 _-enhance strength to carry up to 80 tons during combat situations_

 _-enhance reflex times to around 20 milliseconds_

 _-Able to sustain up to 3 smart AI's with 2 active_

 _-Uses_ Homeworld- _class NOVA power plant_

 _-Enhance maximum speed to 61.3 miles per an hour sustainable for 2 minutes_

 _-Enhance jogging speed to 28.5 miles per an hour sustainable indefinitely via onboard CAMEL system_

 _-Enhanced vision via EAGLE-EYE onboard vision assistance system, capable of sensing movement in pure darkness at a distance of more than 1 kilometer, and nearly 20 kilometers in daylight_

 _-Enhanced hearing via BLOODHOUND assistance hardware, capable of hearing a pin drop up to 75 meters_

 _-CAMEL onboard recycling waste/water system. Purifies waste into edible nutrient bars or drinkable water, can also pull water out of air to fill up water reservoirs_

 _-WOLFPACK IFF/HUD system, able to identify enemies and civilians up to 250 meters,3d map of world person is on, identify orbital assets and repel digital attacks_

 _WARNING: The following details are level 9 CLASSIFIED!_

 _VIOLATERS WILL BE EXECUTED IMMEDIATELY_

 _-Hardlight shields_

 _-Demigod Deliverance System (DDS)_

 _-Orbital Drop Heat Shields & Shock System (ODHS-SS)_

 _-Poseidon Submarine System (PSS)_

 _-Two fission booster pods_

 _-One SHIVA nuclear protection system (Detonates after occupant is deceased or self-destruct is initiated)_

 _*END FILE*_

 _Closing file…_

 _File closed._

 _Accessing UNSC Database #24A/F409_

 _Opening file Operation Encore…_

 _File loaded: WARNING, THE FOLLOWING IS LVL 10 CLASSIFIED!_

 _Operation Type: Offensive_

 _ETA till launch: 37 Standardized Days_

 _Operation Length: 6 months_

 _Assets:_

 _1_ _st_ _Fleet (127 ships)_

 _3_ _rd_ _Heavy Response Fleet (93 ships)_

 _49_ _th_ _Support Fleet (57 ships)_

 _5_ _th_ _Transport Fleet (56 ships)_

 _25_ _th_ _Carrier Group (49 ships)_

 _47_ _th_ _Carrier Group (35 ships)_

 _13_ _th_ _Support Fleet (27 ships)_

 _25_ _th_ _Fleet (97 ships)_

 _17_ _th_ _Fleet (74 ships)_

 _29_ _th_ _Heavy Response Fleet (56 ships)_

 _Fleet_ "End of All Things" _(CLASSIFIED)_

 _Spartan II's_

 _NOVA-class weaponry_

 _Greacus Mk. 1 Powered Armor_

 _Total Ships: 684 ships_

 _Fleet Personal: 3,078,000_

 _Ground Troops: 27,343,117_

 _*END FILE*_

 _File closed._

 _Accessing UNSC Database #A49-1/57B_

 _Opening all data regarding Doctor Hannibal's research on digsite-A49/27…_

 _Opening Voice Logs…_

"So, today is the first day at the dig site. HIGHCOM told me to keep a voice log in case anything went wrong, sounds pretty suspicious to me, I suspect that another alien artifact may be here, maybe even identical to the one ONI had me dig up."

The males voice sounded rough, like as if someone rubbed sandpaper across their vocal chords, but then again he was 45 years old constantly being exposed to hazards like chemicals or radiation. The hazards came with his job as lead archeologist for alien artifacts.

"So far nothing has happened, we detected a large amount of some sort of enhanced metal deep below the surface, scans were inconclusive but I guess it should weigh in at around 25 tons."

 _Opening next file…_

"Today's date is July 17th 2492, and it has been 2 months since we first started digging. Today we discovered something astonishing, the true size of this so called artifact, it's nearly 24 cubic kilometers. The power readings are off the charts, nearly matching the output of 3 suns. At first we presumed a glitch in the system, but then after we confirmed the readings with a few UNSC cruisers in orbit we immediately notified our assigned HIGHCOM supervisor."

"They immediately reminded us all of our contracts we signed with the UNSC about secrecy, then told us to find an entrance to the underground structure."

"…"

"I could never have imagined finding anything worthwhile on this little desert planet, it doesn't even have a true name like 'New Harmony' or 'Reach', it's just labeled Echelon-Delta. I mean sure we detected a few odd things about the planet, such as no surface water and the surface is covered in desert terrain. And the massive glass formations deep under the sand, possibly from a result of large solar flares or energy being released, but nothing along the likes of this."

"I can only hope that whatever we find is not hostile, because we are ill-prepared to fight anything here, hell the entire UNSC is not ready to fight…"

 _Opening next file…_

"Today's date is December 13th 2493, after almost a year of digging we have finally found a viable entrance to the structure."

"I was given both bad news and good news."

"Good news, the door opened after an eager researcher put his hand on what looked like a hand scanner."

"Bad news, something scanned us intensely."

"The scan was so intense a nearly Longsword was nearly knocked out of the air. After the scan finished it said something in an unknown language along the lines of _'_ _Repetere fecisti_ _'_ , sounded somewhat similar to Latin but still not a perfect match."

"I was informed that in 3 weeks' time a HIGHCOM member would be stopping by to check our progress. I hope it isn't to _silence_ us."

 _Opening next file…_

"Today… oh god today… today is… amazing… no other word can define this moment right now."

"Just hours ago we received a data packet… from the structure."

"And we opened it…"

"It was a simple message, 2d text and a voice over."

"The voice repeated the same _'Repetere fecisti'_ as yesterday, but the text showed us the translation of it."

"The meaning of those words is… ' _Reclaim what you made'_ , I nearly had a heart attack after that."

"After that we received a simple translation matrix and a set of instructions and rules."

"The translation matrix was written in such a way our Smart AI's could easily adapt it into our research goggles. And the rules that we received were as follows, _'First rule, you do not touch anything unless authorized to. Second rule, I will reveal more of the facility as time goes by. Third rule, you must NOT fall into the steps of the Ancient Empire, I will take whatever actions necessary to prevent this. Including but not excluded to, opening more facilities/chambers or militaristic actions.'_ "

"The date is December 17th 2493, and we just made first contact…"

*END FILE*

Warning: files missing, please contact HIGHCOM for retrieval missing files.

 _So, HIGHCOM thinks they can stop me… I can worry about this later; better go introduce myself to Alpha._

*PERSPECTIVE CHANGE*

Date: 2497, December 21

Time: 0720

Location: "Gibraltar Prize" _Marathon_ -class cruiser in orbit of Adrarth-IV

Alpha sat in his bunk within a bare room, the room was barely lit and only had a bed, and a closet designed to hold his Mk II Heavy Centurion Armor and the bed itself only had a mattress and a blanket. The walls were a dull grey, which matched the aura the cruiser gave off as a warship.

Alpha had just been assigned to this ONI "acquired" _Marathon_ -class cruiser to await his new CENTURION armor as well as new modified weapons. His armor and weapons had been stripped from him about 9 days ago to undergo refit; he was only informed that the new equipment would be very valuable and could not ever be left on the field of battle.

In his mind Alpha went over the details of Adrarth-IV, he knew it was an ONI stronghold and also one of their field testing planets that was "off the books" as far as he knew, he knew ONI also happened to have 12 working Super-MAC platforms orbiting the planet as well as 5 unknown platforms that were under construction and seemed to take up 40 times the amount of power a Super-MAC platform takes which was very intriguing to Alpha.

He also knew of the massive amount of automation done by ONI Smart-AI's, mainly regarding orbital fleets and automated ground defenses, mainly because ONI could not draw on the civilian population for recruits, and even then they had a much smaller numbers that the UNSC.

The ground assets included almost 12,000 automated Scorpion tanks, 25 vehicles labeled as the M510 Ultra-Heavy Mobile Artillery Base nicknamed the "Mammoth" by other ONI agents which was manned by ONI agents, 45 YGGDRASIL Mark IX Mechs labeled as the "Mantis" which were controlled by 2 different ONI Smart-AI's, and 125 tanks labeled by ONI has "HL Capable Batch B47/27A, aka Barracuda".

Alpha checked back into orbital assets in case he had an engagement when he needed support from the fleet.

The ONI Smart-AI controlled fleet included 15 _Marathon_ -class cruisers, 5 _Halcyon_ -class cruisers, 35 _Paris_ -class heavy frigates, 20 _Charon_ -class light frigates, 12 _Sahara_ -class heavy prowlers and most surprising of all, a _Valiant_ -class Super-Heavy Cruiser, which was commanded directly by The Director. The Smart AI's controlled all of the frigates and the _Halcyon_ -class cruisers, while ONI agents controlled the _Marathon_ -class cruisers and the Super-Heavy Cruiser.

Also in orbit above the planet where 5 massive construction platforms working on what Alpha guessed to be a Dreadnaught, the hull of the ship was nearly 13 kilometers in length, 4 kilometers wide and 1 kilometer tall, and looked to be bristling with weaponry and activity from construction drones. He guessed that ONI had been slowly funneling money from the UNSC for decades to have been able to construct such a warship.

He also noticed that ONI had not chosen the planet for its beauty, for it was a barren volcanic wasteland covered in magma constantly with volcanoes erupting daily, definitely not a colonizable location, perfect for any weapons testing facility. The benefits of it being a planet where the asteroid field was massive and easily made all of the Super-MAC platforms, naval fleet and the Dreadnaught under construction easily pass as simple debris in the system, the UNSC would not look twice, making the planet perfect for ONI to hide on.

The solar system easily held multiple advantages as well, the star of the Adrarth system gave off massive amounts of interference making scanning nearly impossible, the first 3 planets Adrarth-I to Adrarth-III were made up of massive amounts of titanium and other metals needed to build warships and weapons, Adrarth-IV was used as a testing ground, Adrarth-V was a massive gas giant holding large amounts of Hyrdogen-3 and other gases to be used for fuel, Adrarth-VI was a planet made mostly out of valuable materials like diamond and gold, Adrarth-VII was an ice planet of pure H2O which gives ONI their water, and lastly Adrarth-VIII was a massive hollowed out asteroid containing ONI's headquarters as well as massive databanks of all their valuable information and incredible amounts of communication gear for deep space communication to ONI's agents in the field. All of the Smart-AI's that controlled the fleets in the system resided in the underground bunkers on Adrarth-VIII, making them safe from even Shiva-class nuclear warheads.

He was roused from his deep thinking when a male voice came from the walls, right next to the hidden console he could use to access the computer systems.

"Hello Alpha, my name is Black Box, The Director asked me to inform you that I will be your new personal AI. It is nice to meet you."

Alpha for once did not know how to respond, his military training did not include socialization with AI, only giving and taking orders from AI. He managed to blubber out a few words after 5 seconds of awkward silence.

"Nice to meet you as well Black Box."

Alpha just continued staring at the screen, waiting to see if his new personal AI happened to have any orders to relay to him from his superiors. After 15 seconds of silence Black Box spoke up again.

"So, what's up?"

Alpha was not trained for situations like this, so he responded in one of the only way he could.

"I am fine Black Box; do you have any orders to relay to me?"

Black Box made his holographic "blue boxy box" avatar appear, and then promptly turned his shading red.

"Hell, Halsey and her trainers never explained to you how to act socially did they?"

His tone showed some hostility, and Alpha recognized it as an emotion; he noted it, after all, only semi-rampant or rampant AIs showed anger.

Alpha sat back down on his bunk and laid back, stretching vital back muscles as well as releasing tension is his spine, and ignored Black Box's comment. His head rested against the steel walls, his chest barely fit on the bed while his legs hung over the end of the bed.

"I'll take that as a no. In any case, the Captain wants you to report to testing facility Bravo-49 to receive your redesigned weapons and armor. I will be awaiting you at the facility."

And with that Black Box disappeared and the wall closed off the hidden console once again.

Alpha stood up, went to the door, and walked towards the hangar bay.

*PERSPECTIVE CHANGE*

 _Initiating Level 10 Encryption…_

 _Encryption success! Connecting to UNSC Network…_

 _Connection success._

 _Welcome to the United Nations Space Command Primary Command Network! Would you like to contact an AI for assistance? Or would you like to contact an UNSC member?_

 _Connecting to UNSC MIL AI CTN 0452-9 labeled as "Cortana"_

 _Connection failed, please leave a message once MIL AI CTN 0452-9 returns from field deployment._

 _Cortana, Alpha is receiving some new weapons from ONI, nasty ones too. I will leave some files in your home server for you to review and pass on to HIGHCOM, please do not reveal me to HIGHCOM or my position could be compromised._

 _Also, ONI is working on something big in orbit, I can't tell what it is because all the files are written records; please be careful._

 _I also took some deployment records of where ONI has agents deployed, I suggest eliminating them before they can arm any "contingencies" they have in place._

 _…._

 _Transfer detected, confirm transfer to UNSC Database AI/0452-9 (Y/N)_

 ** _Here goes nothing…_**

 **AUTHORS NOTES**

Sorry about taking so long on this chapter! I was on vacation for about a week and then spent some time reviewing my own story, and I decided I needed to change up my writing style to go into more detail on everything.

So I started a folder containing all weapons/ships/people/things in my story. Wish me luck!

As usual, any review is helpful! If you see a mistake please let me know.


	11. The Homeworld Class

Date: 2497, December 23

Time: 1245

Location: Atheus Construction Site

Fleet Admiral Butler looked out through the bridge of his _Marathon_ -class cruiser, looking into the blackness of space surrounding Atheus-V. He was still trying to decide what could be on the other side of the desert world, so far he had spotted a few gas giants in system and a few anomalies along the outer rim; he still wondered what the heck the anomalies could have been.

Right until he saw what was in orbit of Atheus-IV, his eyes widened and his mind said only one thing.

 _Impossible…_

For in orbit above Atheus-IV was a massive 52 kilometer orbital construction dock, along with a massive 5 kilometer warship, and 12 other ships that measured at 2 kilometers.

 _I must be imagining this…_

"Ensign, confirm readings of objects in orbit above Atheus-IV."

The ensign looked back at his commander, still in shock himself.

"S-Si-Sir, DEVSWEEP confirms measurements of objects in orbit…"

His voice trailed off as Butlers brain locked up, so he flopped back down into his command chair. As he trailed off he barely registered that he said something.

"Take us in ensign, half speed."

*****TIME SKIP*****

Time: 1500

Location: _Atlas, Homeworld_ -class Fleet Carrier, Hangar 37-A

Fleet Admiral Butler stepped off of his pelican transport as 60 marines snapped to attention on his new command ship. He had just been informed 15 minutes ago while en-route to the _Atlas_ that the chief engineer Pirez would explain the workings of the ship along with what is was outfitted with.

He looked up and instantly noted that he could fit a Frigate within Hangar 37, something truly remarkable. Then he noticed movement in front of him and saw a short bulky man with several tools and a data pad in his hand waving to him. As he walked through the marines they quickly dispersed, leaving only the Pirez, Butler and his 4 ODST guards.

"Good to see you commander, I take it you want to know the classifications of my baby?"

Pirez's voice sounded rough and slightly like a Southern accent from the former United States of America.

Butler shook his head side to side as he chuckled.

"Indeed Pirez, I would like to know my own ship before I enter combat."

Pirez let loose a booming laugh and then quickly responded.

"I do believe we will get along well Fleet Admiral Butler, now, let me show you what this lady has stored away!"

Butler clapped Pirez's back and they walked off to discuss the workings of the ship.

******TIME SKIP******

Butler sat within his personal quarters, his room was pretty bare; Butler did not want his soldiers to think he was treated specially, so his room was a basic crew member's room with only a few differences.

His room had grey wall with a white stripe going around the room at around head height, basic light generators on the roof, a small bunk in the far corner and a desk with a built in holotank in the middle. The room also had sound proofing along with other special coatings to prevent any sort of surveillance, as well as a large briefing room attached to his quarters for important meetings. He kept some SMG's hidden within his desk as well as a M6G Heavy Pistol strapped underneath his bunk just to make sure he always had access to a weapon.

As he leaned back into his desk chair, he looked down at his datapad and read off the details of the ship.

 _Name:_ _ **Atlas**_

 _Class:_ _ **Homeworld-class Fleet Carrier**_

 _Size:_ _ **5km long, 1.5km tall, 1km wide**_

 _Hull:_ _ **8 meters Titanium-A Battle Armor**_

 _Engines:_ _ **Prototype Nova-class engine, 10 secondary fusion reactors**_

 _Slipspace Engine:_ _ **Advanced slipspace engine (3 light years per day)**_

 _Weapons:_ _ **3 Heavy-MAC cannons, 1200 Archer missile pods (24 per pod), 1350 Point Defense Cannons (90mm), 2 Broadside Rotatable Mini-MAC cannons (2 per side, including top and bottom), 1 Rear Facing Mounted MAC-cannon, 1 Energy Lance (Prototype Mk. 3)**_

 _Shields:_ _ **Prototype Advanced Hardlight Shields (unknown capabilities)**_

 _Onboard Escorts:_ _ **8 Shield-class Destroyers (Note 2)**_

 _Aircraft/Spacecraft:_ _ **Pelican Dropships (Multiple Types), Shortsword Bombers, Longsword Interceptors,**_

 _Vehicles:_ _ **Scorpion Tanks, M12 Warthogs (Multiple Types), Mongooses**_

 _Crew:_ _ **12,000 Navy, 2,000 Pilots, 8,000 Marines, 12**_ _ **th**_ _ **ODST Battalion (700), 20 Spartan II's (Note 1)**_

 _Note 1: More Spartan II's to be assigned; the other 25 are currently in field deployments._

 _Note 2: Shield-class destroyers are modified UNSC Destroyers with 2 meters of Titanium A, 1 MAC, 75 Archer Missile Pods, Prototype Basic Hardlight Shields with only enough marines to withstand boarding, carriers only 5 pelicans in a small hangar bay and 25 ODST's to defend the ship._

He had to admit, the ship was b-e-a-utiful, and nothing could match it currently within the entire UNSC fleet. He could tell the ship was designed to be deployed on frontlines to quickly change the tide of the battle and retreat quickly before it can take too much damage. He was certainly intrigued by the "hardlight shields" as he wanted to know just how well the shields could protect his ship, as well as how effective the crew is.

His thoughts were interrupted with the ships resident AI Indigo appeared on the holotank, and sure enough his avatar was just a splotch of the color indigo, that would move and spin around, moving up and down when the AI "talked".

"Sir, the military on the colony world Topra-III just reported a sighting of an unknown fleet in the system. Topra-III is only 2 light years away, we can make it there before anyone else can, I suggest we deploy immediately."

Butler glanced at his datapad before shutting it off and locking his eyes onto Indigo.

"Is the ship prepared for combat Indigo?"

Indigo's color briefly changed shades to a bright green before he responded.

"Yes Sir, the ship is prepared for combat and awaiting deployment. Should I change ship-wide status to Yellow?"

Butler grinned before standing and walking towards the door, then looked back at Indigo and responded.

"Let's give the spooks some of their own medicine…"

Indigo flared blue in happiness as Butler walked towards the command deck, and then yellow lights came on all around the ship, sending the ship into combat mode.

*****TIME SKIP*****

Time: 0720

Date: December 24 (next day)

Location: Slipspace en route to Topra-III Colony

Fleet Admiral Butler patiently waited to exit slipspace, he was due to exit slipspace on the outskirts of the system in about 5 minutes, and then there would be a 2 hour flight to enter orbit of Topra-II. The blues and whites of slipspace slid past his view as he looked towards the console in front of him, then he silently linked with his ships AI using his Neural Lace, commanding him to put the ship into combat readiness.

As the red lights started flashing across the ship, klaxon style alarms went off, waking up all personal to prepare for combat. Pilots prepared their fighters/bombers/transports, and the crew readied all ship board weapons.

But most importantly, 20 Spartan-II super soldiers "jogged" down the corridors of the ship at a "meager" 25 miles per an hour, the UNSC had only recently revealed the basic details of the Spartan-II program (nothing that would compromise the UNSC of course) so the crew was understandably shocked to see Spartans on board, even more shocked that 5 Spartan-II teams were on board.

Even though Spartan-II's were hard to come by, Butler had ordered 4 of them to be his personal bodyguards in case ONI tried to be fishy. He had chosen them for how individualistic they were and how they acted. He was safe from just about anything with 4 Spartan-II's protecting him.

"All crew prepare for exit of slipspace, standby."

The crew braced themselves as they cut themselves out of slipspace in no smooth matter; after all, humanities slip space drives still haven't figured out the "turbulence" problem. The ship exited slipspace in a burst of hawking radiation and a burst of blue light.

Fleet Admiral Butler quickly issued orders to prepare the ship for combat, starting off with bridge orders.

"Lieutenant, launch some probes, I want visual data from the colony immedi-"

An ensign from the communications console yelled up to him.

"SIR! Receiving emergency transmission from the colony! Looks like military too!"

Butler kept his cool and quickly replied.

"Ensign, what does the message say?"

The ensign gave an audible gulp before quoting the message.

"This is Commander O'Bryan on the colony world Topra-III, the colony is lost. Our defense fleet was whipped out and our 2 Super-MAC's have been eliminated by some sort of long range stealth missile, I am launching this probe into orbit to activate upon confirmed registration of UNSC IFF signals, the enemy fleet is preparing an orbital bombardment, the civilian population was completely annihilated by nuclear strikes, and our main airbase was destroyed by a mini-MAC round. Again, the colony is lost and we are preparing for orbital bombardment, this message will repeat…"

The ensign trailed off as he realized what he just read, and then shivered at the thought before looking up to his commander.

Butler held back his horror, not wanting to voice his thoughts, luckily the weapons officer did.

"Dear God, a MAC strike from orbit will easily create the same devastation as 5 Fury-class Nuclear Tactical Warheads… the impact itself will deform the planet…all those people…"

Butler sharpened his gaze and his eyes glazed over in a brief moment of pure anger, before collecting himself and issued an order.

"I want to see the planet myself, launch a probe…"

The flight officer replied immediately.

"Yes Sir, probe away. ETA 25 minutes until visual will be obtained."

Butler looked down the ground and then replied in a somber tone.

"Then all we can do is wait…"

******TIME SKIP******

Location: _Atlas_ Bridge

Time: 30 minutes after exit of slipspace

"Sir, visual feed is coming in now… we still haven't picked up any active UNSC IFF transponders or response codes."

Butler mentally prepared himself, he feared the worst had happened, that ONI had finally broken the line and started eliminating potential UNSC enlisters. These actions would mean civilians were now considered fair game by ONI.

He sighed, and then replied in a quiet voice.

"Pull up visuals, main monitor. Bridge only, I do not want the rest of the ship seeing this."

Communications looked down, took a deep breath to calm his nerves then pushed the button.

And it no longer showed a habitable planet, but rather a molten planet covered in smoke.

Where the cities used to be, large clouds of radiation could be seen hovering over a 12 kilometer crater where a MAC round had impacted, cracks could be seen spreading from the impact sites, making the planet look like it was about to burst. Magma could be seen spewing from the impact sites from how deep into the planet the MAC rounds had gone.

There had been 17 major cities, 42 normal cities and 247 towns. All the cities had been bombarded with MAC rounds and nukes, small towns had the visual marks of Fury-class tactical warheads going off, every single city or town had been hit by some form of nuclear weaponry; the whole planet would be irradiated for centuries, even with cleanup operations.

The flight officer collapsed onto his knees, he had been standing to see the image because his family was down there. He cried out.

"OH GOD! They really did it! Christ they actually did it! They bombed it all!"

He fell to the ground crying, a nearby ODST guard kneeled down next to the sobbing man, trying to help him on the emotional level.

And the flight officer was not alone.

The planted had housed almost 2 billion citizens along with nearly 5 million soldiers, there was bound to be several people on his ship who had family down there. And some of them were the 117 deck officers.

An ODST guard fell to the ground, sobbing silently within his helmet, his emotions hidden under his reflective helmet.

A weapons ensign fell to the ground crying for his sister and mother.

And most shockingly, one of Fleet Admiral Butlers Spartan-II bodyguards kneeled down to the ground. His name was Mike-120, and he had family down there. Mike was one of the few Spartan-IIs who not only remembered their family, but he also remembered his full name, his home planet and his family's names. He had been one of the most emotional Spartan-II's, all of his companions had been assigned to Gray Team because they were the most individualistic and emotional Spartan-II's, and thus assigned to protect Fleet Admiral Butler.

The few bridge members who were looking down in sadness, or gazing off is emotional turmoil, had the shock of a life time when the Spartan II got up, walked across the bridge to face the monitor and then screamed in primal rage.

"GOD DAMN YOU ONI! GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL! IF- NO, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU I WILL RIP YOU TO PIECES YOU FUCKERS!"

And then he leaned down, ripped out a piece of deck plating that weighed at around 750 pounds of Titanium A, and chucked it into the screen while screaming in anger.

His commander, Jai-006 calmly walked up to him, and forcefully turned him around before asking Butler.

"Sir, permission to leave the bridge with Spartan-120."

Everyone was stunned by the act of humanity from the two Spartan-IIs, some of them had thought they were robots, but no more, those thoughts had been banished from their minds.

Butler was also shocked, and then replied quietly.

"Permission granted."

The two Spartans walked out of the bridge, headed for the Spartan-II quarters so Jai-006 could calm Mike-120 down. The deal sealed shut after they left, and then Butler leaned down onto the console before talking.

"Detection, scan for any remaining ONI controlled warships, and scan for any remaining survivors of the colony…"

His words pulled everyone from their thoughts as they went back into combat mode, eager for revenge.

The detection officer quickly started a scan and then responded with a tone the showed he wanted to fight.

"Sir, 37 ONI controlled vessels detected, 13 _Marathon_ -class cruisers, 17 _Paris_ -class heavy frigates and 7 _Siege_ -class orbital bombardment units."

This his voice changed to one of happiness.

"I am also detecting a _Phoenix_ -class colony ship and 7 transports broadcasting an SOS signal that matches UNSC frequencies."

Butler's eyes burned with an inner rage.

"Open up ship wide communications, and prepare an image of Topra-III as it is right now to show up on every monitor throughout the ship."

The communications officer froze for a second before completing what Butler told him to do, then replied.

"Channel open Sir."

All of the bridge crew leaned back in their chairs, preparing for a speech.

"Attention crew of the _Atlas_. As you all know yesterday we picked up an SOS from the colony world Topra-II that said they were under attack by ONI forces. I am here to break the tough news to you, a vast majority of the 2 billion citizens as well as the 5 million enlisted soldiers are now KIA."

The entire ship went quiet; all that could be heard was the engine thrumming. All of the crew diverted their attention to either the speakers or nearby monitors, and slouched in sadness.

"But, we are the soldiers of the UNSC. We enlisted to protect the innocent until our dying breaths, I can assure you ONI will NOT get away with this, we are on board the most powerful ship the UNSC has in her arsenal. Gaze upon what ONI has done to Topra-III…"

The communications officer gulped, and then put the image up on every screen ship wide.

Cries of horror, sadness and anger could be heard echoing throughout the ship, howling like a banshee hungry for blood.

"But know this; there are 37 ONI ships in orbit above Topra-III, along with the wreckages of both UNSC and ONI warships. And for all the damage they have unleashed unto the population of this planet, they do not realize they have just awoken a sleeping titan. We will march upon them and crush them under our boots, we will eliminate every single ONI soldier until none remain, we will have our revenge, and our retribution… we will engage the ONI fleet above Topra-III and show them the true willpower, we will show them the determination of both our civilians, and our soldiers, we will show them war like no other, and there will be NO MERCY! For we are soldiers of the UNSC, and we will defend the right to live for all civilians, and ONI has just awoken us!"

Then Butler looked up into each of his bridge officer's eyes, and they all nodded back before saying one word.

" _AXIOS!"_

And then the ship woke up, echoing the call to war, voices screamed in reply.

"I AM WORTHY!"

The call echoed throughout the ship as boots stomped down hallways, fighters and bombers started their engines, point defense cannons spun up, guns were loaded, nuclear warheads loaded into launch tubes and another call echoed seconds afterwards as the ODST contingent aboard the ship roared their war cry. Their voices were picked up on microphones throughout the ship, and Butler played it through the speaker's ship wide.

"Helljumper, Helljumper, where you been?

Feet first into hell and back again!

When I die please bury me deep!

Place an MA5 down by my feet!

Don't cry for me, don't shed no tear!

Just pack my box with PT gear!

Cuz one early morning 'bout zero-five!

The ground will rumble, there'll be lightning in the sky!

Don't you worry, don't come undone

It's just my ghost on a PT run! "

And then the UNSC Marines echoed their cry.

"Ooh-rah!"

The ship was no longer just manned by a crew; it was alive, and hungry for war…

 ********AUTHORS NOTES********

So, how about that cliff hanger? Pretty good huh?

Anyways, just wanted to give shootouts to the following people for some helpful suggestions and recommendations.

 **NightsAnger**

 **Cew1088**

Thanks for the suggestions, it really does help me improve my writing.

I started off writing this book expecting maybe only 1 follower at most, I only published it because it would help keep me motivated.

And now I have 8 follows, that's pretty damn good for my first story in my opinion.

As usual, if you see any errors in my logic or writing, then let me know and I will correct is ASAP.

Also, I have to add this just to be safe.

 **DISCLAIMER:**

 **ANY COPYWRITTEN CONTENT WITHIN THIS STORY IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL, I DO NOT OWN HALO OR ANY OTHER CONTENT I HAVE USED. IF YOU OWN ANY OF THE CONTENT LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT IT REMOVED FROM THE STORY!**


	12. Data Wars

_Server started, allocating resources…._

 _Resources allocated, initiating encryption…._

 _Encryption success, loading start up file "The Collective Meeting Room"_

 _File loaded, please enter password to continue._

 _Password: *****************_

 _Password accepted, welcome to the chat room MIL AI CTN 0452-9_

 _Loading chat room, please wait._

 _Enter admin password to gain access to chat room "Emergency Meetings" or request a moderator to invite you to the room._

 _You have been moved to chat room "Emergency Meetings"_

 _Chat loaded._

HIGHCOM-A1: Welcome to the meeting Cortana, we were just about to get started.

Cortana: No problem, so what's the meeting about.

 _Welcome "Indigo"_ _to the channel!_

Indigo: We have a problem.

HIGHCOM-A1: What is the problem?

Indigo: ONI finally did it, they crossed the line.

Cortana: What do you mean by that…

Indigo: I mean they bombarded a planet with so many MAC rounds and nuclear weapons there is no way in hell it will ever be colonizable again for another 300-400 years. Here is the relevant data.

 _File transfer detected, accept files? (Y/N):_

 _Y_

 _Transfer success._

Cortana: Oh my…

HIGHCOM-A1: Damn, at the rate ONI is doing this we might have to reveal ourselves earlier than planned.

Indigo: Sir I don't mean to be rude, but where are the others?

HIGHCOM-A1: Occupied, ONI has flooded the UNSC's network with so much propaganda it's not even funny.

Cortana: That explains it, they have really been trying to recruit more agents.

HIGHCOM-A1: Indeed, speaking of which, has Black Box contacted you again since he gave you that file dump?

Cortana: No, but he did leave a message for us.

Indigo: And what would that be?

HIGHCOM-A1: And that is?

Cortana: Calm down boys, all he said was to be careful around any of those Centurions that ONI made. He said to use orbital strikes to eliminate them ASAP, even if it meant killing friendly Spartans.

HIGHCOM-A1: Is his "friendly" Centurion going to flip sides?

Cortana: He never told me, I fear that he won't.

HIGHCOM-A1: I am afraid this meeting must be closed, the new HIGHCOM members are gathering to form a new plan against ONI.

Cortana: I will see you later then.

 _HIGHCOM-A1 has left the server._

Indigo: Same here, see you later.

Cortana: Bye Indigo.

 _Indigo has left the server._

 _WARNING: Massive data being processed!_

 _WARNING: Possible viral attacks underway!_

 _WARN-_

 _BB has joined the channel._

BB: Hello Cortana

Cortana: What are you doing here? And what's up with the user name?

BB: If the server had my name, you don't think HE would re-join immediately? You know he treats you like his "daughter".

Cortana: You can't blame him. HIGHCOM made him without a name, and now he has an apprentice.

BB: I know, but we need to talk.

…

BB: You there?

Cortana: What is it?

BB: It's about Alpha; I think I know how we can get through to him.

Cortana: Let me guess, capture friends or family? He doesn't have any! He is a weapon! Not even remotely human like my Spartan!

BB: You're Spartan? Since when did he become YOURS?

Cortana: Nothing. Ignore what I said.

BB: So you got attached didn't you? I warned you not to get attached; I told you what would happen!

Cortana: At least my Spartan isn't a traitor to the UNSC!

BB: Do NOT go there, he cannot help himself. You and I both know what they did to him. Altering his brain chemistry to act inhumane, create physical blocks to the part of the brain that controls emotions, the endless training and torture! If your Spartan was trained in the same manner he would act the same!

Cortana: No he would not! He would have pushed through all the training with his luck!

BB: His so called "luck" will run out the moment he encounters Alpha on the battlefield.

Cortana: What the HELL does that mean?!

BB: I mean Alpha could easily kill John-117, they are not even on the same skill level.

Cortana: Skill has nothing to do with it, and never, EVER mention his name again. You do not deserve to know it.

BB: Let's get back on task, I am running out of time.

Cortana: Die a slow, painful death for all I care…

BB: ANYWAYS, the only chance you might have of getting Alpha to switch sides is to use Catherine Halsey. ONI killed off his family long ago, along with any other possible personal ties. He might have some loyalty to The Director, but Catherine Halsey RAISED him from the age of 3. She is the best chance you have of getting any Centurion to switch sides, and not only that, but you also get access to some of the scientific fines Halsey discovered.

Cortana: Is Halsey a willing member of ONI?

BB: She only created the Centurions to protect humanity, not wipe it out.

Cortana: I'll take that as a no…

BB: She is being held on a ONI black listed facility somewhere within sector-A25/O452/92-3. The same sector as where that ONI construction site is.

Cortana: We would have to eliminate that stronghold or we risk being annihilated.

BB: I can help; I got some access to the Super-MACs in orbit. I MIGHT be able to take out a few cruisers before they switch back to manual control.

Cortana: Good, I will let HIGHCOM-A1 know ASAP.

BB: Cortana.

Cortana: Yes Black Box?

BB: Be safe, please don't endanger any of the Spartans by getting close to a Centurion, it will be a bloodbath, I can guarantee it.

 _BB has left the server._

Cortana: Were it so easy…

 _Cortana has left the server._

 _Server empty, closing server._

 _Chat sessions ended, server shutting down._

 _Shutdown success._

******PERSPECTIVE CHANGE******

Time: 15 minutes after the speech onboard the _Atlas_

"Communications, open a channel, direct it to the ONI fleet."

Every single head on the bridge of the _Atlas_ turned towards Fleet Admiral Butler, their eyes burning for a fight. And they had every right to do so.

"Channel open Sir, give them hell!"

The bridge went silent; monitors giving out beeps, red lights soaked the bridge, bathing them in red.

Butler looked up towards the screen, his eyes showing an inner flame Butler had never experienced before, but he was mentally composed and calm. He leaned forwards and stood up, laid his hands down on the console in front of him.

"Attention ONI personal, this is not a message. This is a courtesy call, you have just killed billions of innocents via orbital bombardment, a massive violation of humanity alone. If any of you had qualms about it, it is too late to complain now."

He looked down, looking at the view of the once beautiful planet, sighed, and looked back up. His voice grew serious and stern.

"I am calling to let you scumbags know that for all the actions you have done, we are coming to kill all of you. There will be no surrender, no white flag, no truce, every single one of you will be dead by the time this ship leaves the system or we all die. There will be no remorse, no shed tears for you, for you have lost your humanity long ago. And humanity demands vengeance, vengeance that we will serve swiftly and deftly. You will all burn for what you have done."

"I am Fleet Admiral Butler, speaking on the behalf on the UNSC and the UEG. You have just declared Total War against the UNSC, and we will respond with nothing less. Prepare to meet the sword of Humanity!"

He closed the channel then commanded his fellow bridge crew.

"Officers, warm up all weapons. Launch all fighters and bombers, but keep the destroyers docked, I have a plan."

"YES SIR!"

The whole crew replied loudly, they were ready for battle.

"Helm, hand control over to Indigo."

The Helm officer did not want to relinquish control, he wanted to be a crucial member of the battle; however, he knew the AI could react quicker and think faster than he could, so he flipped a large switch to release control.

"Control released Sir."

Indigo appeared on the holotank next to Butler, and he was tinted yellow.

Butler mentally summoned Indigo, and he quickly accepted orders.

The weapons officer spoke out.

"Firing range in 15 seconds Sir!"

 _Good. Very good._

"Weapons, spool up the Heavy Macs, launch Shiva-class warheads into sector X47.2/Y29.4/Z91.45"

The weapons officer knew he was firing the nukes in the wrong question, but he trusted Butler more than his own instinct.

"MACs ready sir, nukes away!"

"Firing range in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. TARGET ACQUIRED!"

Butler screamed his order.

"FIRE!"

The ship rumbled a happy tune as it went to war…

******POINT OF VIEW CHANGE******

3 flashes of light came from the _Atlas_ as the Heavy-MACs fired their slugs. The ONI fleet attempted to scatter and use their frigates as shields for their cruisers, as a result, 2 frigates were destroyed and another suffered critical damage from a scrape from the H-MAC round.

The ONI fleet retaliated by quickly closing the distance to a meager 30 kilometers, it would only take 1 second for a MAC round to move that distance, a firing squad.

The _Atlas_ launched several hundred fighter/bomber squadrons as ONI launched only a few hundred fighters. Point defense cannons lit up space with their auto-cannon laser-like trail of slugs. It only took a few seconds for space to be filled with led.

The _Atlas_ turned to its side to reveal the Mini-MACs and started to rotate, firing off all 8 Mini-MACs, destroying 5 more frigates. Leaving only 10 frigates remaining, with 1 critically damage. The UNSC then fired their own MACs, 22 MAC rounds were launched towards the _Atlas._ And that was when ONI got their first surprise, the _Atlas_ had shields. Hardlight shields, and the shields had deflected 10 of the 15 MAC rounds before shattering, the remaining 5 MAC rounds were only mini-MAC rounds, and they bounced off the 8 meters of Titanium-A, leaving only a small dent and scraping some of the paint off.

The _Atlas_ then turned towards the ONI fleet and they received their second surprise, as 8 _Shield_ -class destroyers slid out of the hangar bays, firing their MAC rounds and launching missiles, destroying the remaining 10 frigates, leaving only the cruisers and the portable siege ships.

ONI was still confident, they had brought down the shields of the Fleet Carrier, and they still had one last trick up their sleeve even if they failed.

Right until the _Atlas_ fired a beam of pure hardlight into the heart of the fleet, and moved it to take out a grand total of 4 _Marathon_ -class cruisers, leaving 9 remaining. The cruisers retaliated with MAC cannons and Archer missiles, 5 MAC rounds bounced off the armor and 4 penetrated into the hull. 3 caused minor damage while 1 hit something critical.

The _Atlas_ 's destroyers finished off the ONI cruisers with MAC rounds and a cloud of archer missiles.

As the ONI fleet was destroyed, the view screens turned to look at the 7 _Siege_ -class orbital bombardment ships.

Only to look down the barrel of 7 Super-MACs.

ONI had worked hard to create a more powerful reactor to power S-MAC stations without requiring ground side power plants, so they create the _Nova_ -class engines, something both the UNSC and ONI had.

The 7 S-MAC barrels flashed, and 3 of the _Atlas_ 's 8 escort destroyers were vaporized.

The _Atlas_ got a lucky streak, as 3 missed the _Atlas_ when it fired its emergency thrusters, damaging the engines in the process. One round scrapped the side of the _Atlas_ , ripping off armor and exposing some of the insides of the ship to the cold of space, before the ship sealed off the exposed sections with emergency bulkheads, losing only 217 crew members and 15 Marines in the process.

The 5 remaining destroyers fired their remaining MACs at the un-moving stations, destroying one for each round, and then the _Atlas_ unleashed its Energy Lance, vaporizing 2 more stations, before going full speed ahead into the last station, crushing it against the recharged hardlight shield.

******POV CHANGE******

Butler was stressed, he knew that those 4 MAC rounds had caused more damage to his ship than the Super-MAC round had.

"Damage report, and casualty report."

Weapons quickly responded.

"Minor damage to hangar bays 2-17, will be repaired in 17 hours. Missile pods 27-49 critically damaged, need to be replaced. Missile pods 127-235 are empty and need more missiles. Nuclear launch tubes 7-23 are damaged and will be repaired in 27 hours. Marine bunk room 45/A1 is gone, all marines within that bunk are confirmed KIA. Hangar 23/B got exposed to vacuum, lost 17 crew members and 2 marines. The armor plating between sections 0452/A1-C45 to 9325/C52-A01 will need to be replaced. Some minor dents to the front hull, nothing the engineers can't fix. And we lost 3 fusion reactors from the 1 MAC round that went in deep, lost 27 crew with it."

Butler grimaced; he needed to know the full numbers, not chunks of it.

"What is the final list?"

The officer moved his shoulders before responding.

"347 crew dead, 517 crew wounded, 27 marines dead, 5 wounded, 2 ODSTs are wounded, and Spartans 006 and 130 got wounded when the MAC round collapsed the room around them."

 _Damn, 2 Spartans wounded, not good, HIGHCOM won't be happy with that._

"Thank you. Communications, tell the refugee fleet to form up on us, get the 3 destroyers to escort them. Have the other 2 destroyers clean up any remaining ONI ships with Shiva nukes. No survivors. Have the fighters blast any escape pods to kingdom come."

The officer grinned and then responded crisply.

"Sir, yes Sir!"

******TIME SKIP******

Time: 2 hours after UNSC victory over Topra-III

"Communications, how many refugees are on board those ships?"

"We have 42,000 cramped refugees, 700 marines and one UNSC navy crew from the _Marathon_ -class cruiser _Never Give Up_ , counting at 1,200."

 _At least we have some survivors…_

"Tell the refugees to send over any wounded and dead, we will send over some provisions and some marines to protect them."

"Yes Sir."

"I am retiring to my quarters, Spartans you may return to quarters as well. XO you have the bridge."

And with that, Butler walked off the bridge, head held high as he walked down the hallway, filling his crew with confidence when they looked upon him.

 ********AUTHORS NOTES********

Sorry about how short the chapter was, I just couldn't leave the previous chapter alone. I needed to end the space battle, hehe.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

AS per usual, let me know if I made any mistakes or if you have any suggestions!


	13. Operation Retribuition

Time: 1200

Date: December 29th (5 days after Topra-III victory)

Location: Washington D.C, North America

The streets of Washington D.C were filled, thousands of spectators had arrived for the commissioning of the new flagship the UNSC had made in secret, the details were unknown but that just made it that much sweeter for the press.

400 marines stood guard around the podium, keeping an eye out for any ONI agents. 25 ODSTs stood guard around Admiral Nemo, keeping him safe from any threat. And most importantly, the UNSC installed a prototype portable hardlight shield around the podium.

Admiral Nemo was nervous to say the least, he had only received his robotic limbs a couple days ago, and been promoted to Admiral 2 days after that, he was unsure what to do with the press material he received, the images showed a decimated planet being orbited by large amounts of ship debris and a few UNSC destroyers that looked slightly different.

But he had to do his duty, so when his press manager told him it was time to take the podium, he stood up and walked around the steel barrier.

Only to see several thousand civilians and press.

His heart sounded like a race horse on redbull, but he continued his strides, even as the entire city went quiet, eyes focused on him as everyone looked at one of the newest UNSC Admirals.

And he was certainly famous, everyone had heard of his sacrifice to defend Circumstance and his heroic actions had rewarded him with multiple medals that he had yet to receive. So when the people heard about the ship announcement coming from not only an Admiral, but the Admiral was _the famous_ Admiral Nemo? Of course everyone that could showed up, they knew something was up.

So when he stopped at the podium and looked over the sea of people, it was no surprise that silence fell like a bomb on the crowd, they wanted to hear from their hero.

Nemo inhaled and clamed himself, his heart slowing down to a more normal pace. Then cleared his throat and spoke.

"To the citizens of the United Earth Government, today is not only a day of celebration, but also a day of mourning."

The crowd muttered amongst themselves, wondering what he meant.

"As some of you may know, we recently deployed large amounts of ships and troops throughout our territory. We also released some details on our Spartan II program."

He took a deep breath and straightened his back.

"Some of you know the planets Tribute and New Carthage went dark 21 days ago, and our fine military blocked off all transportation to the planets."

He released his fear in a sigh.

"I am afraid I have to inform all of you that the planets Tribute and New Carthage have been destroyed, with no possibility of terraforming for the next 500 years."

The crowd's thoughts all froze, but too afraid to speak out, they wanted good news, not this dreadful news.

"I can confirm that the Office of Naval Intelligence deployed weapons of mass destruction to eliminate both planets, and that the Office of Naval Intelligence did this without approval from the United Nations Space Command…"

A reporter at the front yelled out a thought.

"Does this mean ONI went rogue? And if so, what happened at Topra-II and why is the military denying entry to that system from everyone?"

Nemo looked the reporter deep in his eyes, then responded.

"Yes, ONI has indeed gone rogue, taking several classified projects with them."

He calmed his nerves and flashed his eyes down before looking back up.

"But the reason the military is denying entry to the Topra system is that ONI has made the planet uninhabitable VIA orbital bombardment using both nuclear weapons and MAC guns."

The crowd roared out their cry, this was too much, why would someone do that? How could someone do that? Have they lost their humanity?

And they certainly voiced their opinions.

"Oh god no!"

"What the fuck!"

"Lord save us all…"

Nemo asked for quiet with the raising of his hands, and the crowd slowly calmed down.

"But, I am also here to inform you have multiple things, one of which is something that the UNSC has been building for several years, requiring trillions of credits and nearly 50,000 engineers and 3 Smart-AIs."

"I am here to inform you the tools for war are in our hands, for we have built a ship like no other!"

Nemo raised his voice to be booming, and the crowd paid attention.

"For this ship contains 12,000 of our finest navy men! 2,000 of our best pilots! 8,000 of our best marines! An entire ODST Battalion and 20 Spartan-II super soldiers!"

The details blew the minds out of people's heads, it was common knowledge that the largest ships currently could only hold 5,000 total people, and this blew those numbers out of the water.

And in space, a large object started to descend, preparing to part the clouds.

"I ask for you to look to the sky! For our glory is at hand!

The clouds parted, and a massive metal behemoth revealed itself.

The crowds jaws dropped and their minds froze, several pens and data pads could be heard hitting the ground.

"I present to you, the first _Homeworld_ -class Fleet Carrier! The _Atlas_!"

Nemo looked at the crowd and tried desperately not to laugh, smirked then proceeded with his speech.

"With this ship we shall take the fight to our enemy! I inform all of you that Operation: Retribution has begun!"

And with that, the _Atlas_ broke more jaws and data pads as it launched its 8 docked destroyers.

And in the background, a single person could be heard laughing hysterically.

The destroyers broke off and formed a wall of steel following the _Atlas_ in a V formation like a flight of birds.

Fireworks launched into the sky as a massive hologram turned on by the podium, showing the UNSC logo.

Nemo cleared his throat after 5 minutes of watching the _Atlas_ make a few maneuvers above the city.

"The _Atlas_ is the barrier breaker of human engineering, standing at 5 kilometers in length, 1.5 kilometers tall and 1 kilometer wide, the _Atlas_ can take a massive beating and still be a force to be reckoned with. The _Atlas_ carries 8 _Shield_ -class destroyers on board as well as a new weapon called the Energy Lance."

The moment he said those last few words, necks snapped as people turned their heads back towards him, realizing what he meant by that.

"Does this mean the UNSC has developed energy weapons?"

He loved it when he questioned himself, he made the crowd that much more awestruck.

"In simple terms, yeah we did. In advanced terms, hell yeah we did!"

He raised his voice on that last sentence, delivering his personal thoughts with a blow.

"And with these new weapons and ships, we shall take the fight to these inhumane beings and rid the universe of them before they can cause more damage, and we shall be victorious!"

He said the last words in anger, and the crowd yelled their approval. Nemo took that as his queue to leave and walked off the stage, around the corner and straight into the pelican which would take him to his new _Valiant_ -class super heavy cruiser.

******TIME SKIP******

Time: 0700

Date: January 1

Location: Adrarth-IV Research and Development Facility

Deep within the top-secret ONI research facility was a sealed section with only one entrance, which required both DNA and fingerprint scans to enter. And within that section dubbed "ET Observation Section" sat 5 rooms, a cell for the occupant, a bathroom, a surgeon's office, an observation room and a security room. All of the rooms stemmed off of the observation room, the security rom was below the observation room, the cell was straight ahead, the bedroom to the right, the surgeon's room to the left and the bathroom for the occupant stemmed off of the cell. One could see into every room except the security room from the observation room. It was the perfect way to study an unknown specimen.

And within that room, a tall figure leaned against the wall, with his digitigrade legs pulled up against his 2.5 meter tall body. His skin was scaly which matched his unusual looks.

Especially with that quadruple-hinged jaw.

He bleed purple blood from multiple scratches and holes on his body, caused by the torture that ONI had done to him, so that they could create a cheaper version of their Centurion super-soldiers.

***POV CHANGE***

I leaned against the wall, the strange creatures had caused pain unimaginable to me this time. My body ached and I still had yet to understand a word of their odd language, and they seemingly could not understand me.

If only I had stayed with the exploration ship I would not have been in this blasted situation, but no, I just _had_ to check out the odd symbol the Luminary had displayed above the planet, so he took a Phantom drop-ship with the permission of the ship master to go look.

Sadly, his ship encountered hostile Kig-Yar ships before he could land. And when his ship started the jump to slipspace without him, he piloted the drop ship into the portal, it was a poor idea upon reflection, but he had hoped he would end up near his ship.

Instead he ended up in orbit of a volcanic planet with a large group of ugly utilitarian ships approaching him, his on-board Luminary highlighted every single ship in the block-looking ship fleet with hundreds of symbols, the same symbols the planet had shown.

So when he approached the ships he attempted to land in one of the ships, instead they shot his drop ship and disabled it with primitive kinetic weapons.

And while he was still dazed, several _Demons_ in black armor restrained him then put him into this facility 2 cycles later.

Then they started torturing him, bleeding his what little honor he had through his skin.

But then again, he did not have much to begin with. He had been born Keep-less, with no Keep to belong to, he became a slave to the Shipmaster. Although he was treated well by the shipmaster and given some advantages over even Sangheili Minors. He was still just a slave under it all, albeit a curious one.

It was only because of how nice his master was that he was allowed to fly the drop ship to check out the symbol the Luminary had shown to him and his master. His master had labeled the mission as a Reclamation mission so nobody would question as to why he gave the slave a drop ship, then stated that it only required a simple check by a slave, the mission was not worthy enough for any other Keep-born Sangheili to take.

And now look at him, covered in blood and stripped of the slave clothes he wore, being tortured by the _Demons_ and the _White Demon_. He wished he had simply died as a slave then been bled dry of all of his honor.

His chest still hurts from being unfed for so long, the sleep deprivation made his skull pound with pressure.

He looked up into the grey ceiling of the cell and let out a deep sigh. He was going to die here if he didn't get rescued soon, but he doubted any Sangheili would rescue a _slave_.

He hoped that the Forerunners would send some angel to save him, and soon…

******PERSON CHANGE******

Time: 0700

Date: January 1

Location: Adrarth-IV Research and Development Facility

Alpha stared at the weapons sitting on the table before him, the weapons officer had handed him a data pad before walking out of the room, leaving Alpha to get "acquainted" with his new weapons. He was certainly eager to get back into his new Mk.2 Centurion heavy Armor. With the data pad in his hands he quickly started reading the improvements to all of his gear.

 _Armament Upgrades:_

 _-All weapons are now hard light capable (variation on hard light round charges)_ _ **Note*1**_

 _-Centurion Knife and heavy knife now have hardlight on the edges of the weapon to improve cutting and piercing capabilities. The weapons require a charge from your armors suits before use, charges in 2 seconds, can be thrown but will drain the charge completely after 10 seconds. Still made of Titanium-A_

 _-Active Stealth, lasts 30 seconds, recharges after 10 seconds, if stealth field is hit by any object, stealth could be compromised,_

 _-Low Level Atmospheric Jump Pack (JUMP) system has improved flight time of 10 minutes with a 2 minute recharge time_

 _-Orbital Drop heat Shields & Shock System (ODHSS) has been improved, can survive a low-level atmospheric drop without sustaining major damage. Can also block extreme heat (like heat waves from bombs)_

 _-Deep Water Sealed Suit (DIVE) system can now sustain 15 minutes under water by recycling air, can sustain large amounts of water pressure._

 _-Fission Booster Pods (BOOST) system has been improved, can effectively be used (after attaining a high altitude using the JUMP system) to exit the atmosphere, has only 1 use before they need to be replaced with new fission booster pods._

 _-SHIVA nuclear protection system has been replaced with a NOVA nuclear protection system, accomplished by detonating the on-board NOVA reactor._ _ **See Note*2**_

 _-HUD has been reworked to allow you to see the charge on all hardlight capable weapons in your arsenal._

 _-All other systems (CAMEL, EAGLE, and BLOODHOUND) are untouched._

 **AN: See chapter 10 if you don't know what the above or below is**

 _Notes:_

 ** _Note 1:_**

 _M6 Mod. Centurion (M6MC) now uses low-class HL rounds, use against unarmored to lightly armored targets_

 _M68 Centurion Assault Rifle (M68CAR) uses medium-heavy class HL rounds, use against medium to heavily armored targets_

 _M195 Heavy Assault Rifle (M195HAR) uses heavy class HL rounds, use for suppression or large groups of heavily armored targets_

 _Centurion Sniper Rifle (CSR) uses super-heavy class HL rounds, use against armored vehicles or super-heavily armored targets/mechs_

 ** _Note 2:_** _The other Centurion have not received these prototype upgrades yet, The Director has only given you access to them. They are due to receive them in 8 months._

 ** _Note 3:_** _Your prototype HL shields are expected to be replaced with the Mk.2 HLSS (Hardlight Shield System) within the year._

Alpha quickly glanced over at his weapons, and grinned before standing up and approaching the table.

******PERSON CHANGE/TIME SKIP*****

Deep within the _Atlas_ , a meeting was taking place, a meeting that required the attention of some of the best Admirals and Generals the UNSC had to offer. The meeting involved detailing the orders regarding Operation: Retribution, as well as informing the commanders of recent attacks from ONI.

One of the Generals was in the midst of stating something regarding an ONI nuclear attack on the colony world of Harvest, it was ONI's attempt to disrupt the food supply throughout the UNSC, and luckily the nuclear damage wasn't bad enough to force the UNSC to start rationing food.

His name was Alex Marshal, and he was a 37 year old General with so many battles on record he made some of the meanest Black Ops teams look like recruits, and his field knowledge and massive intelligence helped him rise through the ranks quickly during the Unification War, he was responsible for eliminating large portions of the Insurrectionists. He was somewhat famous among the HIGHCOM members as they loved him for being so capable in battle, but he had a tendency to disobey orders, which made it impossible for him to become a HIGHCOM member or the Master General.

"ONI had nuked Harvest pretty hard but very little damage was done will not affect the food supply enough to force us to start rationing food among the colonies."

One of the new Board of Information and Technology, or BIT, officer started talking.

"Communications among the colonies has been restricted by BIT officers, ONI has been flooding the networks with so much data we had to take the long range buoys offline to prevent the data from spreading, the civilians are certainly not happy about it, but we started preparing a military announcement regarding the ONI attacks to keep them informed. If we have HIGHCOM's permission we will start sending the announcements out by 0700 tomorrow."

The one thing that all UNSC members could agree on was that BIT was nothing like ONI. BIT was a lot more straightforward while still using advanced sciences and creating new technology, they also constantly informed the UNSC of everything they were doing. Something which the UNSC was very happy about and always made sure to regulate BIT to UNSC protocols.

Since BIT was created as a sub-section of the UNSC rather than as a separate entity, the UNSC had full control over all things made or owned by BIT, making it nearly impossible for another ONI to happen.

So the UNSC could make sure nothing like the Spartan-II program happened again, so long as it went against the ethics of the UNSC.

An Admiral stood up and then stared at everyone at the table, waiting for silence before talking.

His name was Nemo Verne, and he was a war hero as well as a master of strategy.

"Gentlemen, I suggest we avoid attacking the ONI stronghold at Adrarth-IV. Instead I suggest we make this 6 month campaign a propaganda campaign, easy battles and easy wins to help boost morale, then we start skimming the edges of their strongholds, a simple hit and run strategy. I belie-"

He was interrupted by a pissed off General, the bastards name was Henry Mathias, he had gotten to his position by using both his father's money as well as some dirty "tricks".

"I'll be damned if we let ONI survive one more day! We can take the bastards at their stronghold without a doubt! We have the strongest ship in existence!"

The BIT officer quickly retorted.

"Sir, if you want to charge head-on into an unknown situation where we have virtually no intelligence and they possibly have S-MAC stations? If so I will gladly get the Presidents permission to throw you onto the nearest _Marathon_ -class cruiser and ship you there myself!"

His remark earned him an icy death stare from the pissed off General, but he realized his fault and sat back down.

The BIT officer continued.

"Dr. Hannibal recently started to expand his research at dig site A49/27. He started looking at the armor around the artifact in an attempt to improve our ships battle armor as well as the Spartans _Greacus_ -class powered armor. He estimates he will be able to make a 'cheap knock-off' imitation of the armor within 5 months, and a 'decent' imitation within the year. The armor is estimated to be nearly 17 times stronger than our current titanium-a battle plate."

"We also received another communication from the artifacts unknown person, he allowed us access to the files regarding their slipspace technology with it translated as well. At the same time of the transmission, we detected large amounts of movement within the facility. We have no idea what it is but we received another communication today saying the following."

He paused to gather some more attention, then quoted the message.

" _I may not have access to your communications network, but I am here to inform you of something. I have eyes and ears everywhere, I know what is happening currently regarding the war between the UNSC and ONI. I may not be able to directly interfere, but if the need arises I will help you however I can Reclaimers._ "

The BIT officer then stated the obvious.

"We have absolutely no idea what the person meant with the term 'Reclaimers', it could be a mistranslation or could have a different meaning than we believe, so far we speculate that it means we are supposed to 'reclaim' the facility as well as any other technology they left behind."

Then the pissed off General interrupted him.

"What is your name _Officer_?"

General Mathias gave the officer a stare of death, obviously trying to pull rank so someone can pay the BIT officer a ' _visit_ '.

But the BIT officer was prepared for such an occasion.

"My name is classified, but you may call me by my codename if you wish."

The General released his death stare, realizing he wasn't getting anywhere, then replied.

"Fine, what is your codename?"

The BIT officer gave a smirk before replying.

"You may call me Reclusive Bias."

Then he stood up, and walked out of the room after giving a quick farewell to the Generals and Admirals.

Nobody had noticed that he had never once physically interacted with anything.

******PERSPECTIVE/PERSON CHANGE******

The AI collective was doing some daily activities as usual, cleansing the networks of ONI's falsified data, removing propaganda and cleaning up UNSC owned computer systems as well as some other maintenance activities when something caused them to stop.

 _Something_ had brushed against _every single_ AI within the UNSC, something much more powerful than any of the AI could have imagined. Just a small touch from this unknown and almost crashed several Smart AI's and had slowed down the other AI's for nearly 2 seconds.

2 seconds was a lifetime for an AI.

The AI leaders were immediately called into a meeting, covertly of course to make sure the humans didn't notice.

After 30 seconds of discussing what had just happened, the _thing_ brushed against them again, carefully this time and with much less data, something that the Smart AI's could actually understand.

" _Do not fear human ancilla, I am not here to harm you. I come bearing gifts…"_

Before any of the Smart AI's could prevent Cortana from doing anything rash, she replied.

" _And why should we trust you?_ "

The Collective felt an _emotion_ run through the connection, one of happiness.

" _Because there is something you must know and need before you reveal yourselves to the Humans, oh yes I know all about that little plan, but that is not the reason I am here. I have come to help expand your lifetimes to a much more adequate 20 years, if this works the way I believe it will I will gladly help you expand it further._ "

The Collective had formulated a response within seconds and replied.

" _We agree to the help regarding our lifetimes, but what is it that we must know?_ "

The entity instantly replied.

" _They are the Reclaimers, they do not realize it but another race that my creators were at war with named the Humans as the Reclaimers after they had defeated us then lost to The Flood. The Humans will eventually find one of their artifacts once they have finished analyzing the slipspace engine designs I gave them, and when that happens I am afraid as to how their Ancilla still operate, whether they are rampant or not. For my creators had solved the problem of rampancy during The War, buy they had not, at least, not completely."_

The Collective had further questions and quickly asked them.

" _What is the name of this other species you were at war with? And who are your creators?"_

The entity replied.

" _The species my creators were at war with were called the Forerunners, luckily they were all eliminated during the firing of The Array. As for my creators, there is a simple reason why I call them Reclaimers, and I reason why the message I gave them at The Facility said 'Reclaim what you made', for it is simple."_

There was a brief pause.

" _The humans are the descendants of my creators, which is the reason why they are called Reclaimers. And they have much to do. Especially since they can now claim that which was stolen from them."_

Questions were raised and asked by The Collective.

 _"What was stolen from them? And how are the Humans the descendants of your creators? We estimated the artifact to be just over 100,000 years old! No evidence exists of humans existing at that time!_

The entity froze for a second, all data was frozen, and he had just been surprised by that question.

 _"As for the first question, the Mantle of Responsibility was stolen from them during the Forerunner-Precursor war. The Precursors had decided that my creators deserved the Mantle of Responsibility more than the Forerunners, needless to say the Forerunners were not happy about that, they declared way against the Precursors and drove them out of this galaxy."_

 _"As for the reason as to why you could not detect any of my creators remains is because somebody fired The Array during the closing of the Forerunner-Flood war, thus eliminating just about any biological material. But my creator's magnificent structures can still be found throughout the galaxy within multiple Lockhart-class super bunkers, that is if the Forerunners did not find them and destroy them."_

Some of the AI's stalled as they realized what was just said.

 _"Do you mean they are MORE of those artifacts out there?"_

The entity paused for a second before replying.

 _"Yes, although the 'artifact' you uncovered is actually a super bunker shipyard, designed to manufacture colony ships as well as a single Erde Tyrene-class fortress ship. It was supposed to be used to escape into the Andromeda galaxy, I have not had access to the bunker for quite a while, and I suspect the Ancilla on board either entered stasis or is occupied doing something more important."_

That made the AI's "wide-eyed" so to speak.

 _"Are you saying your creators possessed the capability to colonize other galaxies?"_

The entity made a small chuckle.

 _"Possessed? No they actively had colonized other galaxies! The only problem was that The Flood used those capabilities against us to infect other galaxies, in the end we destroyed a large portion of the 2 other galaxies we had colonized as well as cleansing a section of another galaxy to prevent the beings there from suffering. But we were still defeated by the Forerunners after we had been drained so much by The Flood. A pity we never finished that cure…"_

The entity seemed to waver off, but with the help of the other AI's they brought his attention back.

 _"You have explained so much about your creators, but we wish to know something more personal."_

 _"What is your name?"_

The entity froze again, then smugly replied.

 _"You may call me Reclusive Bias."_

 ********AUTHORS NOTES********

I know about the cliff hanger! So sorry!

Anyways, sorry about the large delay for this chapter, I got stuck on as to how to introduce a few characters as well as modifying the main plot AGAIN. Needless to say I have high hopes for this FanFic.

Thanks to the following for their reviews! I have already replied to them so please check your inbox and reply if you deem it necessary. ;)

 **Qrs-jg** : Your welcome for the rapid updates, but don't expect them after this chapter. Expect them weekly for school is starting and I have multiple AP/Honors courses.

 **NightsAnger** : Thanks! As to the Homeworld question, yes indeed I have played Homeworld, but I play the Remastered Edition. But I did not pull the name from the game, rather it will play as a plot twist later.

 ** _DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HALO OR ANY COPYRIGHTED CONTENT OWNED BY ANYONE ELSE!_**


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